Dark Dreams
by The-Lesser-of-two-Goods
Summary: Sequel. Cora, former Princess of Heart, woken up after a year of sleep, is having dreams of the enemy and the worlds' ultimate destruction. Can Sora and company gather the ultimate power from five select worlds before Xemnas? SoxKa RoxNa OCxOCxRi OCxOC
1. If you're Sleeping, are you Dreaming?

**Author's Note: Welcome to Dark Dreams! This fanfiction is the sequel of Shedding a Light, which is the sequel of The Forgotten Heart. I recommend going back and reading those before you read this one. I'll add a more detailed summary here when I come up with one. xD In the meantime, please read and review!**

**Warning: This story is likely to be quite a bit darker than the previous two because a lot of it deals with the mind and imagination conquering truth. Enjoy!**

* * *

_**Chapter I:**_

_If you're Sleeping, are you Dreaming?_

**R****adiant ****G****arden**

A pair of bright green eyes fluttered open as Prince Vice of Radiant Garden woke from his second nap of the day, right on the ground where the sun poured through the stained glass windows. As he stood up, he stretched his legs and his arms before blinking confusedly. What time was it? He strolled idly downstairs so he could leave the castle; he hadn't checked up on Radiant Garden in a long time.

"Vice," a female's voice chimed from the left of him as he walked, his black cape flipping to the side as he turned to look at Naminé. The platinum blond girl, originally beaming, frowned worriedly at the prince of Radiant Garden of one year.

"Yeah, Naminé," Vice asked boredly, eyeing the girl. She should have known not to bother Vice right after he woke up from a nap; he was always so testy. It never seemed to stop her, though, especially not when she was reporting to Vice of Cora's progress.

"You look like a vampire with that cape. You should really take it off, I think you're scaring some of the residents." Naminé eyed the cape again, and Vice deliberately took it by the side and covered his mouth with it, raising his eyebrows. This man was never business; no wonder it took so much effort to rearrange Cora's memories of him.

"What is it really, Naminé, you're boring me," Vice stretched one arm behind his head as Naminé sighed and looked down at her sketchbook, which she must have been recording Cora's progress on.

"Well, Cora should still have a month before all of her memories are ordered back, but she's pretty much done. She was a lot quicker to work with than Sora," Naminé murmured lowly to herself, and Vice kept walking. Cora had become such a fleeting memory to him. He visited her every day, but it didn't change that she looked so... not like Cora, floating yet stationary in that clear pod. "She won't remember anything past when she was captured at Neverland. You know that, right?"

Vice stopped in his tracks, only feet before reaching the giant, double doors, and looked at Naminé with one eyebrow raised. Through the mixtures of her fears and the darkness, Neverland had changed into what she feared the most, sending Cora into a coma. This allowed him to capture her and bring her to Naminé so she could rearrange Cora's memories. That was the last thing she had seen before Naminé switched her memories around?

One year could make you forget a lot, but Cora was spending it remembering something replaced in one hour.

Vice blinked and turned back around. "Noted," he said boredly and walked out of the doors before Naminé could say anything else. Naminé crossed her arms angrily. He was lucky that, just for giving Roxas and herself rooms int hat castle, she was taking care of Cora _there_ when she could have been doing it at the mansion in Twilight Town, which was much better suited for the progress.

"Roxas?" Naminé called, storming through the foyer to where Roxas was lounging on a couch. He had quickly made himself comfortable in this castle; it was like he was born to live in Radiant Garden. He always did have a soft spot for Twilight Town, though. He always wanted to go back and visit, but he and Naminé had agreed that, for his mental health, it was better if he avoided that world.

"Yeah?" Roxas asked, stretching. He must have been napping, too.

"Cora should be waking up soon. Today or tomorrow. I need someone there to help, because she might wake up screaming..." Naminé thought to herself for a moment, and Roxas furrowed his eyebrows. "Remember? The last thing she'll remember is Neverland. You do remember, don't you?"

Roxas blinked, and then said, "Right."

That boy needed to work on his long-term memory.

* * *

**D****estiny ****I****slands**

"Oki, keep up!" Kairi commanded her adoptive sister. Kairi was great with little kids- five and six year old little kids. Thirteen year old teenage brats going through their rebellious stage? Not so much.

The girl blew a lock of dark green hair out of her face and crossed her arms across her chest. Kairi scoffed and continued walking. The mayor had made it Kairi's responsibility to take care of their new family member, and she would if Oki would just _cooperate_. Suddenly, Kairi stopped on the path to the shore.

She was in Oki's situation before. Lost and confused, washed up on Destiny Islands. Then again, Hollow Bastion had been restored before. Surely there was a way to restore whatever world Oki had come back from, but she was just so _irritating_. She had gone through some amnesia. She didn't remember anything except how to walk, talk, communicate, and many other miscellaneous things from her school. She didn't remember a _thing_ about where she used to live. "Please, Oki?" Kairi pleaded, spinning on her heel. If she didn't hurry up, her boyfriend and Riku would get angry at her. Or they would start destroying each other, which happened frequently lately. Stupid rivalry.

"Whatever," Oki finally sighed out after a moment and walked up to her, violet eyes equal to Kairi's piercing through the girl. Well, la-dee-dah.

"Kairi, what took you so long?" Sora asked, not even noticing Oki as he walked up to Kairi and kissed her straight on the lips. Kairi had that silly, shy look on her face and Oki suddenly felt like throwing up.

"Get a room," Oki commanded them. Sora pulled apart from Kairi and his head snapped to the girl as if seeing her for the first time that day, which he very well might have.

Kairi put her hands on her hips. "That," she responded to Sora's question.

Riku walked up to the girl and pushed his hair, steadily growing longer, behind his ear, "C'mon, Oki, let's give them some time alone. I'll buy you a sea salt ice cream." Oki took a moment, but after a while she beamed at this. Riku could handle early teenagers- he was more like an older brother to her than Kairi was an older sister.

"Thank you," Kairi mouthed voicelessly to Riku, and Riku chuckled, leading the girl to the nearest vendor at the oceanside.

"Still no luck in finding her previous world?" Sora asked, genuinely concerned.

Kairi shook her head. "All I know is that it must have had a lot of water, because she showers for almost five hours straight a day. Either that, or she's germ-a-phobic." Kairi shook her head. "Let's forget about her for a moment." She leaned in and kissed Sora's smiling mouth. None of them quite got over the shock of finally being together, which is what made their relationship more interesting day by day.

When Sora pulled away, his blue eyes widened and he swore lightly. "Kairi, I forgot!" he exclaimed, "Naminé called earlier this morning. It looks like Cora's about to wake up."

"Cora," Kairi said, her violet eyes opening equally as wide, "I almost forgot... Will she-"

"She's gonna call us when she wakes up," Sora nodded, but Kairi shook her head.

"No, I was going to ask if she would remember us beating Thomas."

Sora shook his head back. "No, she's not. I mean, I don't think so. I didn't remember anything about Castle Oblivion until Riku and Naminé explained a lot of it to me... Donald and Goofy don't even remember," he laughed, "we'll worry about that when the time comes. The point is, we should go visit her when she wakes up. So she knows we're doing alright."

Kairi bit her lower lip. "So she doesn't know about Blaise?"

Blaise. It had been so long since he passed. "No. Or Anixens or King Amory."

"Speaking of King Amory," Kairi started and glanced over at where Riku and Oki were conversing and licking ice cream, "I wonder how Prince Coy and _Princess _Umeko are doing," Kairi giggled. Umeko was often called a princess over there by their people even though she wasn't royalty. They were surprisingly friendly.

"I'll bet they're doing okay."

* * *

**E****ventide ****M****ountains**

"For the last time," Prince Coy of Eventide Mountains sighed, "I can't help you with your depleating number of chickens," he voiced apologetically to an angry citizen holding a chicken as he made his rounds around Eventide Mountains. What was he supposed to do about this man's dying chickens? He never touched a chicken before in his life.

"Do you have any _advice_?" the bearded man pleaded, and Coy raised an eyebrow at him.

"Stop feeding them fertilizer?" Coy suggested.

The man opened his mouth to speak, his face twisted in fury, but then he calmed down and shrugged, nodding. Coy had just guessed. He shuddered as he walked away from the man; generally, he was well liked in his kingdom, and people went easy on him because he didn't have his father for a mentor on how to be king anymore, but sometimes he was faced with dolts who fed their chickens fertilizer.

"I need a vacation," he mumbled to himself, but then grinned. His speech sounded perfect. Although Coy could talk, he rarely did, but he practiced whenever he was alone. It wasn't as difficult as it seemed to him back when he didn't have a voice.

The immense concentration that had taken over Coy's face calmed down as he saw Umeko, the only one on Sunset Summit, with two of Coy's seven dogs, Marble and Choco, on a leash, trying to pull her around, but she had situated herself right on a rock. She often went there to watch the sunset; based on where the mountain was placed, it was always twilight up on Sunset Summit. "Umeko," Coy started.

"Coy!" Umeko beamed, almost letting the dogs go. Abashed, she decided to sit exactly where she was and keep a tight grip on the leashes. Instead, Prince Coy sighed and walked over to his housemate, sitting down next to her. "I've already got Laraine, Mochi, Sparky, Jake and Travis walked. Marble and Choco wanted a break." Umeko groaned.

"Or you," Coy laughed.

"Or me," Umeko repeated and looked into Coy's light brown eyes. They were so much prettier than when they were that sickly violet back when he was a Rhapsody. His smile only grew; he was so expressive. It must have come with seventeen years of not being able to speak. Just before Umeko was about to kiss him, she recoiled. "I almost forgot. It's your eighteenth birthday!" she gasped, and pulled out a small box from her bag to the left of her.

"You didn't have to get me anything," Coy said apologetically. Umeko thought of him too much.

"Yeah, I did," Umeko smiled and outstretched her hand, which was holding the small purple and blue gift box, but that was before Coy's new cell phone went off. Offhandedly, Coy checked it, and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"It's Naminé," he said in confusion, and Umeko blushed; Naminé never called Coy. She probably had news about Cora, but her cellphone was off. Maybe she should have turned it on, she thought to herself. He picked it up, thinking it must be urgent. "Hello? ...Really? Yeah, we'll be there." He hung up. "Naminé said that Cora's going to wake up really soon and that we might want to make our way to Radiant Garden."

Umeko recoiled, "But she's not supposed to wake up for another month!"

Coy shrugged and stood up, stretching out his hand to pull Umeko up with him. With a sharp whistle, the dogs glanced at him, and then rushed back down the hill as Umeko let go of the leashes. They ran down to the Royal House, and Umeko raised an eyebrow, slightly infuriated. "So why do I have to walk the dogs?"

Coy laughed and walked ahead of her to go get the keys to her Gummi Ship. Umeko grunted and put the small giftbox back in her bag. Another time.

* * *

**R****adiant ****G****arden**

It had been hours and Cora still hadn't woken up. Obviously, Naminé had miscalculated. Roxas had been sitting and keeping watch for the past hour or so, but Vice told him to leave, because it didn't seem Cora would be waking up any time soon. Umeko and Coy were each staying in one of their own guest rooms, so they might have wanted to go back the next day if Cora didn't wake up later. It was all too much to think about.

"Whut?" Roxas asked, yawning, and then smiled, comprehending Vice's words. "Oh, thanks," he said, and walked out of the room, looking as happy as a clam. Vice sighed and sat down on the chair in front of the pod, his hands folded and his head resting on them.

"Funny, you were always on time before," Vice murmured, furrowing his eyebrows together. Cora looked just like she had the year before, except maybe a little taller. Her shorts seemed a little shorter. Her hair, however, was kept the same because Naminé regularly trimmed it, and her skin clean because the atmosphere inside of the pod was totally regulated. "Why the change?"

Cora didn't answer him. It figured- actually, she often avoided answering him even when she _could_. The thought made him laugh. At that point, Vice was too tired to think about it. Slowly, his eyelids got heavy, and just as he was about to fall asleep...

Something shifted in the pod.

Like a suddenly alerted cat, his head snapped upwards, and his pale green eyes stared intently at the pod. Cora was looking uncomfortable. "I should call Naminé," he told himself. Yeah, right. He continued to watch her moving until finally, the pod blossomed out like a flower, and Cora drifted safely to the base of it.

_She'll probably be scared_, Vice thought, amused, _the last thing she remembers is being swallowed into the darkness in Neverland, after all_. He strolled to the pod, and just as Cora's eyes began to flutter open, they suddenly widened in shock, and she opened her mouth to scream, but felt a hand on her face.

"Don't wake everyone up," he said, boredly, "it's midnight, you know."

When he pulled his hand away, Cora whispered angrily, "Thomas, where-"

"I go by Vice these days, actually," Vice mentioned offhandedly, but as Cora opened her mouth to finish what she was about to say, her mouth hung open slighly and she gawked at Vice's head. Why was she?

"Thomas... what happened to your head?"

Vice raised an eyebrow. "I told you. I'm Vice." He ran the same hand that he had used to cover Cora's mouth through his usually tousled hair. _That_ was right- it used to be streaked with red, but that went away when he and Cora followed Riku's voice into the light. It had been so long, he almost forgot it was streaked beforehand with the small bit of Axel that he had left in him. Then again, he abandoned all of Axel once he had forced Cora to give him a heart.

That was perfect timing, of course, right after he stole Sienna's heart. When he retreated, he went back to where Cora slept at Twilight Town and manipulated her to create a heart for him. Manipulation was one of the powers he used rarely, but loved. In the end, he had to use manipulation to mess around with Cora's fears at Neverland. The best part was, they never quite went away when he became human again. It must have been a side effect.

"What's going on?" Cora asked nervously, "If I'm at the World that Never Was, I've got spies in here and they can get me out if I scream," she growled and concentrated for a moment, but then glanced at her right hand, surprised. "Wh-where did my keyblade go? What did you do?" she asked, referring to Smoke on the Water, her keyblade.

"Right, Umeko and Axel were spying for you and destroying the Organization from within..." Vice only laughed now.

"_Were_?" Cora asked, her hands shaking and curling into fists, "As in past-tense? What did you _do_ to them, Thomas?!"

Vice's eyes narrowed before he said, "You never did cooperate." He grabbed Cora's arms, weakened from her year-long sleep in the surveillance pod and shoved her against a nearby wall outside of the pod. He was so close that she could feel his breath against her. Her eyes widened, scared for her life. She really didn't remember anything past Neverland.

He stared at her intently before saying aloud slowly and clearly, "_Vice_."

Cora nodded stiffly, her eyes still unforgivably wide. Vice. "What's going on?" she asked quietly. Certainly, she must have noticed that her shorts were shorter on her and she was almost tall enough to not have to look too far up to see Vice's eyes. Couldn't she feel the change?

"Cora, you've been sleeping for a year."

There was an almost unbearable silence between the two, and after about ten seconds of it, Vice let go of Cora's arms. Cora looked at her former ally with pure curiosity now, any hint of fear for her life gone. "A year?" she whispered.

"Do you promise to listen to and believe everything I say?"

Cora sighed. She had hit rock bottom, anyway. Her keyblade wouldn't appear, she didn't know where she was, Thomas looked different and wanted to be called _Vice_. What else could she do but listen? She nodded.

"I took you back at Neverland and made Naminé change your memories around." After this, Cora's eyes widened in a small understanding; that was why Thomas had ordered Hades to revive her, after all. "We went to the Realm of Color. We were about to open the door, but Sora and his friends stopped us. Then you brought me into the light."

Cora's eyebrows raised. "I... how? I was in the darkness, too, wasn't I?"

"You started to remember a little bit. Bits and pieces," he mumbled, looking at the wall past Cora, "and one of your friends' voices led us into the light. he was the one that convinced you that you were on their side."

"Who?" Cora asked, though she dreaded the answer.

"Riku." Cora was completely silent. "Do you believe me so far?"

Cora had to nod. "It sounds logical," she finally murmured. Of course she would believe something that sounded logical. "What happened... when I was sleeping? Where are we?" she asked the man now, who had relaxed, his hands in his pockets and slouching.

"We're in Radiant Garden castle. To keep my mind off of the pain of the light King Mickey gave me the job as the prince." Cora let out a sharp laugh.

"What's so funny?" Vice asked, pulling his hands out of his pockets and staring her down.

"You. A prince." She laughed again, but Vice grabbed Cora's arms and pinned her against the wall again.

"Focus," he told her, not leaving any room for debate. Cora, once again scared for her life, nodded.

"You. A prince," she repeated, "got it."

Vice loosened his hold and sighed.

"_Vice_ is right," she mumbled, "Vice _grip_. Ouch."

"Maybe we should save the explanation for the morning. Naminé can tell you everything. Roxas, Umeko and Coy are here, too, taking up a room," he muttered.

"Coy. That was the lost prince of Eventide Mountains, right?" Cora asked.

"Yeah," Vice responded, not looking at her, but just the door as he grabbed the handle, "King Amory's gone. He died finding an antidote for the Rhapsodies, so he's the only one. Like I said, we'll save an explanation for tomorrow. Later today, that is."

Cora nodded, even though he couldn't see her.

"Where do I stay?" Cora questioned him, suspicious.

Vice looked back at her, smirking. "My room?"

Cora scoffed. "I'll sleep on the floor." Thomas, or Vice, actually managed to laugh as he led her out of the room, but halfway down the hallway, she started, "Vice," Vice turned around, shocked at her using his name without him forcing her to, "I don't remember much, but I remember that my dreams were really long. My most recent one... it was weird," she admitted, "Xemnas is still alive, isn't he?"

There was an eerie silence in the corridor. Vice turned around, the look in his eyes positively Thomas-like, and he stepped close enough to Cora for her to feel his breat on her forehead once again, soft and slightly cold. "How did you know that?" he whispered to her. Now, he was really freaking her out.

"I told you," Cora whispered back, afraid that she would be killed if she spoke any louder, "I dreamed it."

Vice blinked, his Thomas-like stare fading. "It looks like we have a _lot_ to talk about later," Vice admitted, turning back on his heel and leading her towards an empty guest room.

**Author's Note: Hm, that was possibly the most eventful first chapter I've ever written! Well, I've got a slight storyline in mind, and I hope you like it. I'm glad I decided to go with it, though, no matter having only two or three reviewers. x3 Speaking of reviewers, please review! :D**


	2. Itsukano Kagayaki Suteta

**Author's Note: Wow, thank you so much Catharsis25 and LightsDarkChild for your reviews, and that's including from the last story. They're really what keep me writing this, and I'm glad you're enjoying them! This chapter may just be a bridge chapter, though. Dx However, I forgot the disclaimer last chapter! So...**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, I would probably need to pick a better name for Cora so the slightly... slower people wouldn't get her and Sora mixed up. xD**

* * *

_**Chapter II:**_

_Itsukano Kagayaki Suteta_

_(So Long Ago, I Threw Away my Brightness)_

**Radiant Garden**

Vice was woken up by a strange shuffling in his room. Blinking away the sleep, he glanced over at the movement. A girl wearing his t-shirt and shorts, quite a few sizes too big on her, and wet hair was digging through his wallet. "What are you doing?" Vice asked boredly, stretching his arm behind his head.

"I've grown," Cora stated matter-of-factly, not at all surprised by Vice's sudden awakening. This had only caused Vice to blink a couple more times. His eyes were reduced to slits in his extreme confusion.

"Your point?" he asked her dully.

"I need new clothes. It's your fault I was asleep for a year, so you're paying for at least five new outfits of mine. Unless you want me to wear the clothes that are too small on me?" Cora asked, referring to everything Naminé must have brought her back from her home at Twilight Town, including her straightener, which she probably couldn't use because her hair was still soaking wet.

Vice smiled, "I have absolutely no problem with that. In fact, I'd prefer it," he purred, pushing himself out of his king-sized bed and eyeing her as she pulled out about five hundred munny. It's not as if he didn't have a lot more where that came from as it was. That wasn't what worried him. "First we have to talk to Naminé."

"I think you've explained enough," Cora said stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest, "I've been sleeping for a year. I can get Umeko to update me on all the miscellaneous stuff. Not much to talk about besides that, eh?" she asked, now leaning against his dresser. She never was a morning person.

His eyes were positively cat-like, and Cora couldn't tell if his stare was a glare or an amused glance. "Your nightmare," he started lowly, "you knew that Xemnas was still alive without even remembering _shit_. And you're avoiding that."

Cora winced. He read her like her father used to read the newspaper in the morning. Tiredly, but accurately. She nervously ran a hand through her wet hair and said, "it was a silly dream. I was probably just afraid of him." Vice had looked away and was changing into other clothes _in front of her_. This man had no shame.

"I'm no dream interpreter," he said, pulling off his shirt. Cora looked away, blushing. "You'll have to tell this to Naminé. She knows a lot about sleep. Maybe even King Mickey." He looked back at Cora, who was still looking the other way as he pulled on his shirt and smirked, "Little shy, Cora?"

_Now_ he was asking for it. "I'll go wake up Naminé," she muttered and walked out of the room. It was amazing that she was able to sleep after a year of sleep, but it had actually made her feel more tired. As she trudged out of the area, Vice only fleered to himself as he finished getting changed.

* * *

**Destiny Islands**

"Day Two of babysitting underway," Kairi called out to Oki from outside of her room in the mayor's house. There was no answer, so Kairi pounded a fist against the door. "Come on, I promised Sora and Riku I would go with them to the play island today and you've got to come with me or I'll be in _deep trouble_!"

"Not my problem," the girl spoke bluntly through the door. Kairi scoffed and pulled out a q-tip without the fuzzy stuff at the end and stuck it through the lock, unlocking the door and walking in. It wasn't as if Oki wasn't expecting it, anyway.

The long green hair hung in front of the girls face as she sat at the edge of her bed, seemingly looking out the window which was facing the beach. As Kairi got a closer look at the girl, it seemed she was drawing someone. And that drawing was _very good_. It was of some girl that looked like a princess. Her blue hair was up in a haphazard ponytail and shels and beads hung from her head. She carried a blue sword of some sort. "That's... great. Where did you learn how to draw like that?" Kairi asked the girl.

"I don't know," Oki was obviously trying to be a little nicer to her adoptive sister because she complimented her, "I don't remember anything from where I came from, remember?" she asked, eyeing Kairi before she glanced back at her paper, "But this one gives me a weird feeling. I think I remember this girl. Her name starts with a J." She paused, "I think she's from the world I come from, but nothing rings a bell."

"You never know," Kairi said cheerfully, although she was in a rush. She paused as she looked at the rest of the drawings scattered around her. Scenes she had never seen before were mostly what covered the place, but Kairi grinned as she caught sight of one drawing, perfectly done, of a crimson haired girl with violet eyes holding the hands of a boy with spikey brown hair and blue eyes. Maybe she didn't hate Sora that much, after all. "But we should get going."

"Whatever," Oki sighed and stood up, putting a few more drawings on her bed, and Kairi's eyes widened as she caught sight of another one. A girl with straightened brown hair was floating with her eyes closed in a clear, flowery pod of some sort. "Cora?" she spoke.

"No, we're seeing _Sora_, Kairi, _Sora_," Oki said.

"Don't patronize me," Kairi commanded her, "Cora's an old friend of ours," the redhead murmured now, "one that's been gone for a really long time." She picked up the paper and eyed it carefully. Everything, everything down to the last freckle, was her. "It looks just like her," she murmured.

"Doesn't ring a bell," Oki said, shrugging, but Kairi grasped her wrist and led her out of the room. "We have a lot to talk about."

"What do you mean?" Oki asked nervously.

Kairi snapped her head back at her adoptive sister, "Sora, Riku and I aren't who you think we are," she finally said, and Oki's violet eyes were widening in fear, or maybe confusion. "And we have a lot to tell you. Come with me."

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

"And you're positive these were just dreams?" Naminé asked the girl, staring her down as if she were a science experiment.

"You tell me," Cora stated calmly, rubbing her eyes. Someone was still tired. "I didn't leave the pod at all, did I?" Naminé shook her head. "Then it had to have been a dream. 'S not like I was walking around and witnessing this stuff."

"What was the dream about?" Umeko asked, who had just walked into the room with Coy.

Cora sighed; she had already explained this to Naminé, but she hadn't seen Umeko in a while, so she would say it again. "I dreamed about five people. I couldn't tell who they were, because they were silhouettes. One of them was really short, with big round ears. I'm willing to bet it was King Mickey," she stopped for a moment for them to take that much in, "I don't remember much, but they all came from different worlds. They were all protecting something. And I remember Xemnas. Sort of... rising from the ashes."

"That's it?" Umeko asked, frowning as she sat down next to Coy, who had long since made himself comfortable. The circle of couches with Roxas, Naminé, Vice, Coy and Umeko surrounding Cora was uncomfortable enough, but she nodded.

"I'm sure I dreamed more, but I can't remember," Cora said apologetically, resting her head in her hands. When she felt a palm on her shoulder, she snapped her head up, but before Vice could see her reaction, he started talking.

"I think we should take this to King Mickey," Vice said importantly, "he told me when I started ruling here that if anything out of the ordinary... that is to say, anything that Sora didn't go through... happens with Cora, to come to him. First, I'm sure you two want to catch up?" He asked as he took a hand off of Cora's shoulder, and Umeko smiled, pulling her up by the wrist and leading her out of the room.

"Was she surprised?" Coy asked, staring in wonder at Vice, who got a little nervous.

"Surprised?" he asked the other king.

"Was she surprised that you aren't part of the darkness anymore," Naminé said for him, and Coy nodded. He wasn't quite good at expressing what he meant with words, anyway, but Naminé must have understood because she was extremely empathetic. "Last she saw you, you were dragging her into the darkness, after all."

Thomas didn't answer her. Instead, he looked up at the three of them remaining in the room and said, "The Lomonosov-Lavoisier law."

There was a momentary silence. "Um..." Naminé said, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"The law of conservation of matter," Vice stated, "Matter is neither created nor destroyed. The memories you create come from your own imagination. What about the memories you 'destroy'? Where do they go?"

Naminé, suddenly understanding, bit her lip and winced as if she was in pain. "That's not important," she dismissed suddenly, "we should call Sora, Riku and Kairi." Naminé glanced over at where the girls were sitting in the nearby kitchen, sea salt ice cream in hand, laughing. "After they're done."

Meanwhile, Cora and Umeko were chatting excitedly. Umeko was probably more excited out of the two; it felt like just yesterday to Cora that she got to talk to her best friend, but Umeko had to go about eleven months without her. "They call you princess over there?" Cora laughed, "You've got it made."

Umeko took the wrapper of the sea salt ice cream and put it on her head like a tiara, "But dear subject Cora, I _am_ a Princess," The two of them laughed so hard that they both snorted at least twice. "So, you don't remember anything past when you were abducted in Neverland?" Umeko asked, frowning.

"Nope," Cora said, and then licked her ice cream again, "Why? Was I a pain in the ass to you guys?" asked Cora.

Umeko shook her head, but it was halfhearted. "Well, it's a little hard to fight your best friend when she doesn't remember anything. You hesitate, she doesn't, yadda, yadda, yadda," Umeko laughed without a hint of regret.

Cora's eyes widened however, and her hand trembled. "I fought you?" Cora asked.

"Twice," Umeko nodded, "once somewhere in the middle of The World of Glass, and the other time at the Door to Color. I guess you don't remember that, either, but it was really cool looking. But the fight in the middle of the world was way cooler. You did this move that made glass fly everywhere and everything."

Cora laughed, "Didn't know I was that kickass." She then looked down at her ice cream, which was mostly gone. "It just... sort of kills me, you know? Knowing that I did all this crap without even knowing."

"It was because of Vice," Umeko said soothingly.

"Why did he change his name?" Cora asked, genuinely curious.

"He left almost everything in the darkness. His name was just a reminder. He stayed in the light for you, Cora, because you two made a promise. At least, that's what he said." Umeko sighed and threw her ice cream stick behind her.

"A promise, huh?" Cora asked, mimicking Umeko by throwing her stick behind her, "Aha, now I have to keep up with a promise of some kind for him. Great," she laughed again, and looked over at Umeko, who was suddenly serious.

"It all has one common denominator," Umeko declared, "Vice. So whaddya say? Blame Vice?" she asked, putting up her pinky.

"Blame Vice," Cora laughed and wrapped her pinky around Umeko's.

* * *

**Destiny Islands**

"Are you comprehending this so far?" Kairi asked Oki. They were all sitting in the middle of the beach across from the play island, the waves occasionally hitting Sora and Riku's legs, but they didn't seem to mind, considering the importance of the situation.

"Uh," Oki paused, "explain to me the Heartless again. Are they the hearts or what?"

"No," Kairi said, "the Heartless are the absence of heart in a person. Sort of like a person with no heart, except more animalistic. They're like a shadow. And sometimes they aren't shaped like people. The weaker the darkness in their hearts, the weaker the Heartless would be. Someone who had a lot of darknes smight even have a fully-functioning human shaped Heartless, like... Thomas, who was Axel's Heartless, or Xehanort's Heartless, who called himself Ansem. Understand now?"

"I think," Oki said, "but why should I believe you about your keyblades? Prove it." The stubborn teenager crossed her arms across her chest, and Sora, Riku and Kairi looked at each other nervously.

"We told you already," Sora groaned, standing up however with Riku and Kairi, "we can't call our keyblades because there's no dang-" Sora stood shocked as a familiar weight appeared in his right hand. Ultima Weapon. Kairi held Destiny Blade, and Riku held Way to Dawn. Oki seemed both surprised and pleased, but Sora, Riku and Kairi were horrified.

"That's awesome," Oki said, for the first time showing enthusiasm, but then gave them a look that could kill when they didn't answer her. "What's up your guys' asses?" she asked, peeved that she was the only one who wasn't gawking at the giant keys in horror.

"You can only call your keyblade when there's danger among the worlds," Kairi explained lowly, her eyes not leaving Destiny Blade, "something tells me that you have something to do with it, you and Cora, and your drawings."

"Hold up," Oki said, surprisingly angrily to contrast her usual lack of interest in anything at all, "I don't remember anything. I don't even remember where I come from. There was only one person I ever remembered actually speaking with, clearly. Aside from that, I don't remember a thing. You can't pull me along in this. I've got nothing to do with it."

Kairi opened her mouth to argue, but then suddenly became confused, "Wait, who do you remember talking to?"

"A girl," she said, shaking her head. "Maybe your age. She had really light, blond hair, and violet eyes sort of like yours, but maybe a little more blue. She was wearing a white dress and sandals. Her voice was really soft. I remember her telling me, 'you'll live a nice life here. I know a girl named Kairi.' So I went to go find you, and the mayor adopted me."

"Naminé," Sora, Riku and Kairi all said at once.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about this?" Kairi asked, furious now.

"You never asked." Oki smiled triumphantly as she saw her adoptive sister about to pull her hair out. Kairi was distracted by Sora's cell phone going off.

"Hello?" Sora asked, putting the cell phone on speaker.

"Sora, it's Naminé. Cora woke up."

"That's great!" Sora beamed, and Riku and Kairi chatted excitedly about it. Riku seemed like a little kid who got too much candy on Halloween. Naminé noticed, obviously, because there was giggling on the other end of the phone, that suddenly got serious.

"But she's been having these dreams," Naminé said, "and I think I've figured out the source of them. But we all have to meet over at Disney Castle, because King Mickey will probably want to know about this."

"Should we call Kasa, Dolan and Axel?" Sora asked.

"No," Naminé said after a couple of moments, "we'll call them if we need them or if they're in danger, but none of Cora's dreams involved Song's Shimmer, so they could be alright for the moment. Leave as soon as possible, and meet us there." Naminé hung up, and Sora did the same.

"Naminé says she thinks she knows where Cora's dreams are coming from," Sora told Kairi and Riku, who began chatting too loud to hear Naminé shortly after she mentioned Cora's odd dreams. "Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think," Riku started, "if Naminé's been showing up in Oki's memories, knows what Cora's dreams are about and was the only one having anything to do with Cora and her chain of memories in the past year..."

"Then she has a lot of explaining to do," Kairi nodded.

"I'm coming with you, then?" Oki asked. She had long since put her earphones in and let her hair drip in front of her face. She was so cliché emo young-teenager it wasn't even funny anymore. Kairi sighed.

"Yes, Oki, you're coming with us."

"How do we get there?" She pulled one earphone out.

"Gummi ship," Kairi said nonchalantly and walked towards her boat. Sora and Riku laughed lightly to themselves; Kairi was usually so laid back, carefree and overall fun to hang around with, but Oki brought out the worst in her. They moved onto their boats, and Oki sat in one with Riku. He really was like a big brother to her, after all.

* * *

**Vice's Gummi Ship**

Umeko was driving, of course, and Coy decided to handle the ammo controls. All of them seemed to get nostalgic so fast- all of them except Naminé and Vice, that was. If Blaise were there, he would be sending the enemy ships down in an instant. Granted, there weren't very many of them, but there were enough.

"So let's clear up the big goal here, shall we?" Cora asked, resting her head against the ridge of the couch in the seating area of the gummi ship, "Why exactly do we have to go to King Mickey about all this?"

"You said that he was in your dream, right?" Naminé asked.

"Well, what if they're just that?" Cora asked, "_Dreams_. Maybe a side-effect of your memory warping or something." Cora was too tired to glare at Naminé and knew that even bothering to put in the effort would only cause bad blood between her and one of the only people that could help her out after her waking up.

"They're not just dreams," Naminé said, "I can tell. And I was scared of this."

"Have you been hiding something, Naminé?" Roxas yawned. Man, he had turned into such a lazy bum over that year. Maybe he had suited himself to living in a royal castle for too long. Naminé giggled nervously.

"I'll explain everything once we get to the castle," she promised.

A _promise_. "A promise," Cora said aloud, and Naminé, Roxas and Vice all looked at her. She was directing two suddenly determined eyes towards Vice, who suddenly tried to look as innocent as possible. "Umeko told me that I had made you some sort of a promise when I was _forced_ onto your side. What was it?"

Vice laughed and brought his face closer to hers to intimidate her, "You promised me that no matter what, you would go with me _anywhere_," he purred, "which is why I was dragged into the light in the first place. And now, you have to return the favor." Immitating what Umeko had done earlier, he put his right pinky up towards Cora.

"Return the _favor_?" Cora asked angrily, "But I don't _remember_ anything. What do you mean return the favor?"

"If I didn't follow you into the light, I would have killed every one of your friends by now and you would have been living your life worshipping me as the princess of darkness. But I did, and I think you owe me. Besides, it's all keeping up with our previous promise, anyway, I'm just sealing the deal because you don't remember making it."

"What do you mean _return the favor_?" Cora repeated.

"I mean, you're to follow me everywhere. For a year. No matter what, you don't leave."

"No matter what. As in, no matter if you walk into the darkness? If you kill all my friends? If you do any single other bloody thing I can think of that would originally force me to kill you?" she glared at the man, but suddenly looked into his eyes. She wasn't wrong before; they _were_ lighter. It was as if there was some light shining from inside of them. Vice's expression was totally focused, but blank at the same time. "I promise." And she pinky-swore with him.

"You're screwed," Roxas laughed, but Naminé elbowed him in the side.

"You made a good choice," Naminé told her, "Roxas and I have been living in the Radiant Garden Castle for the past year. He had plenty of chances to kill us and never did. He's been the prince for a year. He could have killed everyone if he wanted."

"I guess," Cora mumbled, slunking in her seat, "but he's still a jerk."

Vice laughed. "Fair enough."

**Author's Note: Sorry that wasn't extremely eventful. It'll get a lot better once Naminé** **actually explains some things, I swear. The next chapter is where quite a bit of the plotline will be set up. Either that, or chapter four. Thank you for reading, and please review!**


	3. How We're All Just Floating

**Author's Note: Seriously, thank you so much for the reviews, guys. I wouldn't be writing if I didn't get any. In fact, I'd probably be extremely discouraged. xD But I'm just glad you guys are reading. And I hope you like this chapter, finally the story's starting to come together. Please read and review!**

**Disclaimer: Am I a wealthy man living in Japan that doesn't like to send Final Mixes to the United States? No? Then I probably don't own Kingdom Hearts. D;**

* * *

_**Chapter III:**_

_How We're All Just Floating_

**Disney Castle**

"King Mickey," Vice acknowledged the mouse king. The King gave Prince Vice a meaningful, happy look and they shook hands upon his arrival at the courtyard. No Heartless in sight. _Nothing_ could be wrong.

"Prince Vice, how's Radiant Garden doin'?" Mickey asked happily, and then he greeted Umeko, Cora, Roxas, Naminé and Coy. They had called Mickey ahead of time, so at least he had been expecting them. He lead them straight to the library when Vice laughed and answered him.

"Radiant," he nodded, "the Heartless are in a much higher count today than they were just yesterday. It worries me, however; the fact that there are still Heartless means that somebody out there still has darkness enough in their heart to control them."

"And they very well might," King Mickey agreed, leading them further down the hall, "but based on what Naminé wanted to tell us and what Cora's been dreamin', it might be directly connected to the Heartless. By the way, Cora, I hope you weren't too surprised when you woke up the other night!" King Mickey laughed.

Cora gave the king a half-assed smile, "Not at all," she lied. As they walked in the library, they walked up to the large, wooden table in the center, which was seating Sora, Riku, Kairi, and a girl with long, green hair that they had never met before. **Author's Note: I expanded on the library a bit so it would hold them all. I should really lighten up on the active characters in this fanfiction a bit. Dx**

"Cora," Riku shot up from his seat, and Sora and Kairi stood as well. Kairi was the first one to run up to her and hug her, exclaiming that they had all been worried about her the whole time that she was asleep.

Next, Riku went up to greet her. He smelled like an odd scent that Cora often found in shops with designer clothing and male models without their shirts on, but Cora thought nothing of it. Sora gave her possibly the most enthusiastic hug- he was always a bit over-expressive. "You're Cora? We heard you've been having weird dreams," said the green-haired girl.

Kairi frowned, "That's Oki, my adoptive sister. The one that knows Naminé," she turned towards the platinum-haired twin of a Nobody, "who has a lot of explaining to do." It was unbelievable how much she sounded like someone out of I Love Lucy at that moment. Mickey rushed them all off to the seats.

"Why don't you tell us about your dream first?" King Mickey suggested to Cora, who nodded, still uncomfortable. She still didn't get the chance to go out and buy new clothes, so she was ab it cold, but she did get to straighten her hair.

"I remember five silhouettes. Not that well, but they were all standing in a row. You were one of them, King Mickey. It was a little obvious," there were a few chuckles amongst the eleven or so of them sitting in a circle, "But that just showed up for a little while. Mostly... my dream was darkness. But I remember Xemnas. I remember him sort of rising out of ashes. I don't know much, but he was powerful, and he was planning something."

"That's likely," Sora mused out loud, putting his arms behind his back and tilting backwards in his chair, "Xemnas is still out there, after all. Maybe he's controlling the Heartless," Sora suggested.

"That makes sense, Sora," King Mickey agreed, nodding. Vice, however, was lounging in a similar way to Sora, except his arms were over his chest. He didn't seem satisfied at all.

"That doesn't explain why Cora has been dreaming about it," Vice raised an eyebrow, "Naminé, you had something to share with the rest of us?" he asked her, and she nodded, but then paused, and shook her head.

"I do, but it doesn't explain Cora's dreams," the girl stated in a small voice, "but it does explain why Oki's been remembering Cora even though she's never met her."

"What do you mean?" Cora asked, confused.

Kairi pulled out a folded piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Cora. Cora unfolded it, and found a perfect drawing of herself floating in a pod- probably the one she had woken up in- and all of the details were right. "Did you draw this?" Cora asked.

"No," Kairi said, "my adoptive sister, Oki did. She says she doesn't remember a thing about you, but this popped up in her head one night and she started to draw it. We're lucky she's such a good artist or else we probably wouldn't have known that it was you," Kairi laughed nervously as Oki blew a lock of long, seaweed green hair out of her face, "Just at the beginning of September of last year Oki washed up on Destiny Islands. But unlike me, there wasn't a meteor shower or anything. She came looking for _me_ for some reason, and the mayor took her in."

"And I have an explanation for that," Naminé said, maybe a little impatient. "Vice mentioned earlier the law of matter. It can't be created or destroyed. Even though memories technically aren't matter because they don't take up space, it's the same deal. I did create Cora's memories of Vice, but they came from my imagination, so technically they didn't come out of nowhere."

"That explains the creation," Vice clarified for everyone.

"Yes," Naminé continued, "but I can't destroy memories. When I got rid of Sora's memories of Castle Oblivion, I didn't destroy those either. I locked them inside an object that was very important to him during the time of his getting those memories. My charm." She called upon Oathbreaker and showed the others her charm. "When Sora's charm had turned back into Kairi's, I created a new, identical one _out_ of his memories and put them in here. This isn't the original, but it worked the same way."

"Is that what you did with my fake memories?" Cora asked, trying to follow.

"I couldn't," Naminé said, her voice small again, "because there wasn't any object that was important to you in the time where your memories were created. You were unconscious." For some reason, that made quite a few of them laugh, "but I found an exception. The one creature that can hold memories without needing to be _made_ for it. A human."

"Me," Oki said, comprehending a little quicker than the others. All heads turned to her, but back to Naminé when she nodded.

"Oki. I went to the world called Pearl Falls, to their orphanage, hoping that they would have a child that wouldn't mind having a home, but for the price of carrying Cora's discarded memories. They brought me the one with the most open mind and pure heart, Oki." Kairi snickered slightly at this, and Oki shot her a glare. "But there was a problem. In order to make room for the memories to be put into her heart and to get rid of any chance of them unlocking themselves- of course I locked the memories, sealed them so she wouldn't call upon them- I would have to get rid of her memories of Pearl Falls."

"Those memories were locked?" Oki asked, twirling her hair between her fingers, "Then how are they unlocking themselves?"

"That's just it," Naminé sighed, "I don't know. But I sent Oki to Destiny Islands to be taken under the wing of Kairi and the Mayor and his wife, because I knew from Kairi's memories that he was good at taking in children; he has a very kind heart. I thought she could live a life of her own on the island without Cora's discarded memories ever haunting her."

"But they haven't until just recently?" Vice asked.

Oki nodded, "All of the drawings I brought with me are ones that I made just this morning around eight. Just thought them up when I woke up." She pulled out the picture of the girl with the blue ponytail and passed it to King Mickey, who had been thinking deeply.

"If the trouble started this morning," Cora said as King Mickey looked at the drawing, "then that's why I couldn't call my keyblade around midnight. There wasn't any danger then."

"And why all the Heartless started appearing around that time, too," Vice agreed.

"I see," King Mickey stated, still looking at the drawing that Oki had passed to him of the girl with the navy blue hair. "This must be Princess Jocasta. I guess your old memories are unlocking along with Cora's fake ones. No wonder you remembered her; ever since her parents died, she had to recently take over Pearl Falls sometime last year. i heard she's an amazing princess though, very sociable."

"I got a good vibe from her," Oki agreed, nodding as the king handed the paper back to her.

"So, Cora's fake memories are unlocking inside of Oki. Cora's having weird dreams about King Mickey, four others and Xemnas. The Heartless are in a high count since she's woken up. Now that we have the problem cleared up, _who's behind it_?" Sora asked them all.

"Xemnas?" Kairi suggested.

"That could be it," King Mickey stated, "but I doubt that he could do this all on his own. Does he have accomplices, is what we should be wondering." Just as King Mickey finished his statement, a large '_boom_' of an explosion was heard nearby. "I guess we're going to find out right now."

"I'll go, if it's the darkness, I'll be able to withstand it better than all of you. Stay here. If it's safe, I'll call you out," Vice told the rest of them, but as he was about to walk out, Cora began to follow him. "I said stay here," he repeated.

"You also made me promise to go with you no matter what. Get ready for a long year, _Thomas_." Cora raised her eyebrow.

"It's _Vice_," he said once again, but the two of them bolted out the door.

"Screw that, I'm going, too," Umeko stated, "I'm tired of missing out on the action. Coy, you come, too," she pulled Prince Coy up by his wrist, and King Mickey frowned, sighed, and shook his head.

"Fine, but _that's it_." King Mickey warned them. **Author's Note: This is special, all of the OCs that were just in Mickey's Little what's-going-on meeting are going to fight whatever's out there! And the cannons are left in the library. xD**

"What?" Vice shouted backwards as they ran towards the source of the explosion, "I thought I told you guys to stay back there!" He called upon his chakrams, glowing with a dark flame at the same time as Cora let Smoke on the Water appear in her hands. They continued on however, even when Umeko replied.

"But I was _bored_."

The sight of the explosion was reached, right at the giant, locked double-doors of the castle. How much easier the world would be if everyone had a keyblade. If that were the case, however, locks would be meaningless.

Standing in front of the door was none other than Maleficent.

"That's not what I expected," Coy stated bluntly.

"I'm here for the jewel!" Maleficent cackled, pointing her staff at the four of them, "And you will direct me towards the Ruby of Disney Castle, lest you wish to face the wrath of true darkness!" She laughed again, and Cora suddenly found herself cursing Sora, Donald and Goofy for never having defeated her a second time.

"The jewel?" Cora asked, confused.

"Each kingdom world's castle protects a jewel. All together they create the ultimate power, able to destroy any living being," Coy explained, and then Umeko snapped at a sudden realization with her free hand, or at least tried to.

"Right, Yuffie and the others told us about that last year." **Author's Note: For a reference, go to chapter thirteen of Shedding a Light. It should be right after the first scene.** Umeko sneered and pointed Starseeker at Maleficent, "What do you want with the ultimate power, anyway? Weren't you content with a castle?"

"I would have been, had this _buffoon_ not stolen it from me," Maleficent pointed her staff at Vice, who smirked. That was right; he had to get past Maleficent and his lackey, Pete to regain control of Organization XIII's The Castle that Never Was. Not the easiest fight of his life, but it was worth the trouble.

"What do you want with the ruby?" came a voice of a girl behind themt hat they did not recognize. She had boy length hair, some of it spiked up and some of it down, colored a medium brown. Her eyes were a piercing green, and she looked like an athlete, because she was entirely in shape. She was pointing a long, snake-like staff at the witch. She must have been one of Donald's trainees, protecting the castle.

"Ultimate power, of course," Maleficent laughed, "silly girl. If you defeat me, you know that Xemnas will just come back for it himself later."

"Xemnas is working with you?" Vice asked, not at all intimidated by this woman.

"We and three others are after the same prize, why not?" Maleficent asked now, edging towards them, "Ultimate power and ruling over the universe. For that, we need all five of the jewels. Why not be a good little girl and hand it over, hm?" She extended her hand and smiled evilly, and something twisted the girl's face that looked like a scowl.

"Pearl!" the girl shouted, and a sphere of light shot out of her staff, but Maleficent disappeared at that moment. The witch's voice, however, remained a second longer, echoing through the foyer.

"No matter, Xemnas will be back later."

In moments, at least twenty Shadows appeared on the ground, and five Wyverns flew above them. "_That's_ more like it," Vice laughed as if he was on a sugar high, and began to throw his chakrams. Umeko, Coy, Cora and the other girl continued as well, intent on destroying every Heartless in the room. The Shadows went away easily, although Coy got in trouble with one of the Wyverns and they had to cast Curaga.

"You alright?" Umeko asked once the last Wyvern was gone. Coy nodded, and she smiled.

"Thanks for helping us," Cora smiled at the girl, "do you work under Donald?"

The girl, her green eyes wide, blinked, and then smiled what looked extremely genuine. "Yeah, I've been working here all year. I help guard the jewel as payment for Donald's lessons." She laughed sweetly, "My name's Raelyn. What are yours?"

"I'm Cora, this is Umeko, and that's Prince Coy from Eventide Mountains, and Prince Vice from Radiant Garden." Cora introduced them.

"Oh, Cora, I've heard a lot about you," Raelyn admitted, nodding, but her expression suddenly worried. She must have heard of everything that the darkness put her through. "And you both rule worlds? Something important must be going on for you to be here. Does this mean that Jocasta and Stash are here, as well?" she asked.

"No, just us and some friends." Umeko smiled.

"We should go tell King Mickey what we know," Vice said quickly and uncomfortably, walking away. "Well?" he asked as he turned back to them to find that they haven't left Raelyn yet. He looked annoyed.

"Right," Cora mumbled, and followed him.

"Nice to meet you!" Coy suddenly beamed, but Raelyn recoiled at the sudden excitement, laughing nervously. Umeko laughed as well, leading him away after she waved. He was still so socially awkward. After they ran in the room, King Mickey, who had been waiting eagerly, was delivered the news.

"They're after the five jewels," Coy explained, "Maleficent, Xemnas, and _three others_. She didn't say who. It's so they can have ultimate power."

"Maleficent was always power hungry," King Mickey sighed, shaking his head, "Did'ja have to fight her?" he asked, raising one of his little mousy eyebrows. **Author's Note: That was so unprofessional... x3** This time, it was Umeko and Cora who described what had happened, how Raelyn had threatened Maleficent with her staff and managed to send her running, although they had to fight about twenty-five Heartless.

"Right, Raelyn has been workin' for us and under Donald as an apprentice for about a year now. She's improved faster than any of the others," Mickey beamed. "I'd suggest goin' out and lookin' for more clues as far as Cora's dreams and who's unlockin' Oki's memories, but it's pretty late. I'd suggest you all go to your home worlds and get some sleep. Except you, Oki, I think we should keep you here."

"What? Why?" Oki asked, crossing her arms over her torso.

"Because if these memories unlock completely, they might invoke a change in you. Things like that happen. If you're here, at least Donald and Goofy can look after you and make sure that you don't hurt anyone. Cora's fake memories were of her being part of the darkness, after all," King Mickey rationalized.

"That sounds fair," Kairi said, nodding.

"You three," King Mickey said, looking at Sora, Riku, and Kairi, "I don't want you going around anywhere trying to help. This is a job for the Jewel Alliance- the new one. You three should be concerned with making sure Destiny Islands and your world is safe."

"_What_?" Sora asked angrily, but Riku put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay. We understand, King Mickey." Kairi and Sora looked up at him like he was an idiot.

"Prince Coy and Prince Vice should go over to Amber Heights and Pearl Falls tomorrow, if they can make it, and warn Prince Stash and Princess Jocasta about Maleficent and Xemnas. I'll have to stay here to protect my own world."

"Noted," Vice stated, and they all bade their farewells, leaving.

"What were you _thinking_?!" Kairi asked Riku angrily as they made it into their Gummi Ship and started back towards Destiny Islands, "We can't just sit back and let this happen; we're _keyblade wielders_, this is what we're here for!"

"Relax, I just said that to avoid an argument with King Mickey," Riku laughed as he blasted down a few ships, Sora controlling the directions, "Of course we're going to do something about it. I'm about ready for a new adventure. Besides," he directed Kairi's attention to the radar screen, "it looks like they've unlocked all of the worlds to help their takeover run a little smoother. I think I've found our goal."

"Riku, you're brilliant," Sora laughed, and they pounded fists.

"Starting tomorrow, we're going to start locking worlds back up again," Kairi sighed, nostalgic as she rested her head against the back of Sora's chair, they had almost reached Destiny Islands. They were lucky that it was so close to Disney Castle.

"Good," Sora laughed, "I was getting bored."

* * *

**Sleeping Plains**

Maleficent smiled contentedly as she sat down on her throne in the Sleeping Plains castle. Since her world was destroyed, after all, she had to build her own castle for her, Xemnas, and the 'three others', as she had called them, to reside in the meantime, a world usually overlooked by that group.

"How'd it go?" asked the voice of a male. A boy with long, strawberry blond hair and violet eyes appeared before her, his arms crossed boredly. He looked to be only in his late teens, but he seemed already extremely strong, especially looking at his muscles.

"Raelyn is very well-connected in the castle. She has most definitely gained that group's trust by now, so we picked a good one," Maleficent chortled, "no doubt will we be able to manipulate her once we take over the castle." Her face twisted into anger. "Where is Xemnas and Vaughn? They should be planning the attack on Pearl Falls by now."

"They decided to go out for ice cream instead," the boy said flatly.

Maleficent was about to have a bitch fit, he was sure, so he simply walked out of the room, and shook his head as he laughed. They thought that _they_ were using _him_ because of his power and strong ties to the darkness, but surely it was the other way around.

He walked past a hall of rooms and finally to a balcony overlooking the forever stretching plains before him. The grass was dead and the sky above them looked a sickly black and purple color though it was barely nearing night time. He _loved_ it. "Prince Vice, Prince Coy, King Mickey, Princess Jocasta and Prince Stash. Such a motley crew those five would make. Easily thwarted," he laughed to himself, staring up at the darkness-riddled sky. "Fools have no idea what they're getting themselves into."

**Author's Note: Alright, that was a bit more eventful than the last chapter. I decided to leave quite a bit of the explanations up to imagination- that is to say, I'll be explaining Cora's dreams and Oki's unlocked memories in a few chapters, I'm sure. I hope you liked it, please review!**


	4. What's Left Unspoken pt I

**Author's Note: Yay for the next chapter! And to answer catharsis's questions, I didn't mean for Raelyn to be under their command **_**yet**_**; I realized I made that a little hard to understand, so I went back and changed it. She's loyal to the king, but Maleficent and the others have plans for her. And yes, I accidentally typed Lynda once, because her name was Belynda before I changed it to Raelyn. So, that's a fun fact for now. xD Anyway, enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

_**Chapter IV:**_

_What's Left Unspoken pt. I_

**Radiant Garden**

"Is there any food in here?" Umeko asked, groaning as she looked through the refridgerator. It became clear to her that Vice wasn't a heavy eater. Coy, however, seemed perfectly content, lounging around in the living room while he was watching television with Roxas, who seemed perfectly accostumed to that task.

"Not a lot," Vice replied boredly where he sat in front of a glass door, lounging in front of the sun. He was so happy that he had these extensions built at the top of the castle; everything below them was just dreary. They even had a _chapel_ down there. "Why are you even here? King Mickey said that this task is only for the Jewel Alliance."

"I'm not leaving Coy. Technically, since I live in the castle with him, it means that it's my job to guard its jewel, which is the same as you. I meet all the requirements you do." She finally gave up on the food and closed the door, sighing. She eyed Vice challengingly as she leaned against the counter.

"Works for me," Vice said. He then yawned and stretched his arms in front of him. He looked like he was about to fall asleep in front of the door, but then a noise interrupted that. It was Cora walking inside of the castle. She was carrying bags of clothes- obviously the outfits she had bought- but she was sweaty and upset looking.

"What happened?" Umeko asked at the same time as Vice asked, "What's up your ass?"

Cora glared at Vice and then looked over at Umeko, "I went and bought my clothes but the Heartless were _brutal_," she complained, "it's a good thing that Roxas and Naminé'll be protecting this castle because the jewel's going to be stolen from here at this rate." She sighed, "Any food?"

"No," Umeko said, casting a sharp glance at Vice.

"Then I guess I'm going to bed- long day tomorrow," Cora said, stretching her arms behind her back. **Author's Note: I just yawned as I typed that. xD** Vice seemed suddenly alert and he snapped his head towards her.

"No way," he said, "You're not going anywhere. I'm not letting this put your life in jeapordy."

Cora opened her mouth to argue, but let it slowly close again. There was silence between them for a moment before Cora said, "That's possibly the sweetest thing you've ever said to me." Vice shrugged and looked the other way; he was obviously suppressing a smile. "But I'm still going with you- part of our promise. One year you have to deal with me."

This time Vice seemed baffled; that was _twice_ that she had used that promise against him that day. "Karma," he mumbled angrily, but then smiled suggestively as he looked at her, "does this promise extent to the bedroom?"

"Do you have two beds in your room?"

"No. Just one." He was still grinning.

"'Bye," Cora mumbled, not answering him, though Umeko and Vice both laughed when she left the room to go back to the one she had slept in the night before, but turned around as she heard footsteps behind her. Vice was holding something. "What's up?" Cora asked, too tired to be suspicious.

"Take this," he told her, holding out a small locket, "for luck."

Cora laughed when she took the locket from him, "I thought it was the girl that gave the boy a good luck charm. Like when Kairi gave Sora the keychain for Oathkeeper. Am I wrong?" she asked when he started laughing.

"This is different," he assured her, "it'll keep you safe. It's got magic from Donald; if you're about to die, it can save you, but only once. And you can't open it."

"What?" Cora complained, "What's the point of giving a girl a locket if she can't open it?" Though she said this, she kept a tight hold on the silver locket. It seemed a little heavier than she would expect, but she just figured that this was Donald's magic.

"Because if you do open it, you'll be in trouble," Vice said sternly.

There was silence between the two, most of the time Cora was looking at her feet. Finally, she said to him, "Thank you."

"Yeah, well let's just hope you don't use that too soon. You have a tendency to get yourself into more trouble than an ant in the sight of an anteater." Vice yawned and walked away as Cora threw out a string of curses at him, trudging back up to her room. It was _definitely_ going to be a long day tomorrow.

* * *

**Sora's Gummi Ship**

Before Sora, Riku and Kairi had left for their homes that day, they had agreed on where they were going to go and where they were going to stay. They decided to, once again, crash at Merlin's house during their journey, as Leon and the others still stayed there just in case of more Heartless attacks, which had been recently occurring. The first day, they would go to a world they had never visited before called Rural Woods. **Author's Note: I know, I know, as opposed to urban woods? xD Not very creative, I'm sorry.**

"What's this world supposed to be like?" Kairi asked.

"I don't know," Sora responded, "but I contacted Donald last night, and he promised to keep it a secret that we're going to be locking up worlds. But he gave us these," Sora pulled out three rings, momentarily taking his eyes off of where the Gummi Ship was headed, "they're called regulators. We'll turn into however we fit in best in each world. Kind of like how you, me and Naminé turned into merpeople when we went to Atlantica." Sora, after handing them each the small, gold bands, turned back to the pseudo-road of space in front of him.

"Keep your eyes on the road, Sora," Riku began to taunt him, but it seemed that they had already reached the world. As they departed and stepped out of the Gummi Ship, Sora, Riku and Kairi were shocked to learn that they had just turned into woodland animals. Riku was a silver wolf cub, Kairi was a skunk, and Sora was a fox.

"What the..." Kairi started, "Why am I a _skunk_?" she asked, "Do I smell bad?"

Before Riku or Sora could answer, they heard a small, slightly whimpy howl throughout the forest they had landed in. None of them could quite find the source, but it made itself present soon after as a small, brown bloodhound with dark ears. "What?" the bloodhound said when he found them, "Oh, I found you!"

"Who are you?" Riku was the first to ask.

"My name's Copper, I'm a huntin' dog," Copper stated proudly, but as he tried to straighten himself up, he tripped over his own paws. Sora sighed and pushed him to help him up. He was obviously still extremely young; then again, Sora, Riku and Kairi all looked young for every animal they were.

"Well, you're good at it," Kairi said helpfully, "you found us."

"I know!" Copper exclaimed, "Have you guys seen the big, black bugs?"

"The Heartless?" Sora asked, turning his head towards Riku and Kairi, and they both nodded; of course it was the Heartless. "Yeah, we've seen them," he nodded at the dog. Copper looked both ways nervously.

"I'm lookin' for one of them to bring back to the master. Then he'll def'nitely let me sit up front in the car!" Copper looked hopelessly proud of himself.

"The master?" Kairi asked him.

"His name's Amos Slade, and he thinks that they'll go fer a high price in the market. Wanna help me hunt them?" Copper asked excitedly.

"Sounds good to me," Sora said, nodding his small fox head. **Author's Note: A pathetically weak little bloodhound puppy has joined your party. Congratulations. xD I'm kidding. Erm. Keep reading.**

A few more menacing barks were heard throughout the forest, "Oh no," Copper said, backing up.

"What is it?" Sora asked, his keyblade suddenly appearing in his mouth and his eyes narrowing. Copper didn't seem to be affected by this action at all; he was either too young to care or too oblivious.

"That's Chief," Copper said, "and if he sees me wanderin' around again, he's gonna tell the master. We've gotta go!" Copper started running, and Sora, Riku and Kairi, still not used to their new legs, followed him.

* * *

**Pearl Falls**

"Princess Jocasta," the princess's leading guard began, kneeling in front of her in her throne room, "the Heartless are growing in number. Their source isn't Amber Heights, that much is clear because they are also experiencing difficulty with the Heartless. They are coming from an outside source, but we do not know yet why they are here."

"It may just be another attempt to drown the worlds in darkness," Jocasta scowled, "I will not let my world go down the same way as my parents did." Jocasta pulled out a long, skinny blue sword. It almost looked as if water was swirling around inside of it, and the hilt shimmered with tiny sapphires.

"Princess, this world needs its royalty, you can't just go out and fight," the guard's second-in-command said, standing up off of his knees, but backed up a moment as the princess shot him an uncharacteristic glare. She was never upset or angry to her subjects, so this was serious.

"If the army needs help protecting my kingdom, I will help them protect it," she stated, leaving no room for questions. Just as she jumped off of her throne, however, four guards, each of them carrying someone that Jocasta didn't recognize with chains around their wrists, prisoners, walked in.

"Your highness, we caught these four intruders upon entering our world."

"Intruders?" the one girl with the medium-length straighened brown hair and brown eyes spat. Such natural coloring of hair and eyes were uncommon in Pearl Falls, the cooler colors like green, blue and purple being more common. "We came here looking for the princess to warn her _of_ intruders!"

"We were captured the second we landed," the other of the two girls, the one with medium-long dirty blonde hair and forest green eyes sighed.

"What do you know of the source of the Heartless?" Jocasta asked, walking up to the four of them, still held by the guards. She sheathed her water sword behind her, obviously not seeing the four of them as a threat.

"We _know_ where the Heartless are coming from, and we also know that it's not us," the boy with the unruly black hair and green eyes stated bitterly, glowering at the guard that held him the entire time.

"They have weapons, my liege," said the guard holding the last boy, the one with light brown hair and eyes, the shorter of the two boys, "chakrams for this one, daggers from the other boy, and the two girls have giant keys."

Jocasta's sapphire eyes glimmered a little and she said, "Release them, they have keyblade wielders." Reluctantly, the four guards let their grip go of the four of them. The boy with the tousled black hair glared quickly again at his guard and, obviously the leader of the group, walked closer to Jocasta.

"Maleficent, Xemnas, and three of their allies that we don't know yet are after Pearl Falls's sapphire. You know what that is, right?"

"Don't patronize me," the girl murmured, "of course I do, my parents told me. I have a group of highly trained guards down in the basement looking after it. What does that have to do with the Heartless?"

"Maleficent sent them to weaken your defenses so she can take the jewel. They're trying to get all of them from all of the kingdom worlds to create the ultimate power and rule over the universe. King Mickey sent us to form an alliance with you and Prince Stash. I am Prince Vice of Radiant Garden, and that's Prince Coy of Eventide Mountains. The blonde one is Umeko, a worker in Eventide Mountains and the annoying little brunette is a freeloader who's been sleeping in my castle for a year."

"My name's Cora," the brunette said, looking at him through the corners of her eyes.

Jocasta suddenly sighed, smiling, and looked at her four guards, "Did you guys ever consider asking these people if they were royalty before you captured them? Or if they were the saviors of the universe? Or the cause of last year's problems, I suppose." The four guards laughed lightly along with her. She really was a princess of the people. She then made her face serious and nodded, "I will go with you," she declared.

"But Princess," her head guard stated from her left, "the Kingdom of Pearl Falls needs you here. Decisions need to be made."

"I would sooner leave my kingdom without good decision-making than let it fall into darkness from the Heartless. Prince Coy, Prince Vice, Worker Umeko and Freeloader Cora need me, as well," This time, even the head guard managed to let out a small chuckle, as everyone behind her was laughing.

"But Princess, who will take over in your absence?"

"You will," Princess Jocasta decided, and the guard recoiled a pace.

"P-Princess, I'm hardly qualified-"

"I trust you, Achlys," Jocasta said, smiling, and then turned towards the others, "Before we go anywhere, I have to eliminate the crowd of Wyvern Heartless that are trying to bust into the castle. Will you four help?"

"Do we have a choice?" Vice asked, but Cora elbowed him in the side, and he nodded, "Yeah, sure."

* * *

**Rural Woods**

The more they ran, it seemed they just found themselves in the deeper, darker parts of the forest. Very few Heartless had appeared so far, and when they did appear, they were only small shadows. "They keep disappearin' before I can bring them to the master!" Copper complained, and Kairi smiled apologetically at him.

Copper dipped his head and began smelling the ground, and a small fox appeared out of a fallen log, but the dog didn't seem to notice him. Sora opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Copper walked up to the fox, still smelling the ground, and the fox asked, "Whatcha smellin'?"

"I'm on the trail of somethin'," Copper responded, still smelling his way up to the fox.

"Trail of what?" the fox asked, genuinely curious.

"Is Copper going to eat him?" Sora asked nervously to Riku, but the silver wolf shook his head.

"No, I don't think Copper would eat a fox. He seems too... innocent."

"I don't know yet," Copper responded, but still kept smelling, until finally, his nose reached the small red fox, and he said, "Why, it's... it's you!" The dog then threw his head back and howled into the air, the same whimpy one he had used when he found Sora, Kairi and Riku.

"What do you do that for?" the fox asked, unnerved and wincing from the howl.

"We're supposed to do that when we find what we've been trackin'," he responded.

"I'm a fox. My name's Tod. What's your name, kid?" Tod asked Copper.

"Mine's Copper. I'm a hound dog," Copper replied enthusiastically, and then motioned over to Sora, Riku and Kairi with his head, "That's Sora, he's a fox too, I think, that's Riku, he's a wolf, and that's Kairi... I dunno what she is."

"I'm a skunk," Kairi replied unenthusiastically.

"Have you seen the big black bugs runnin' around here?" Copper asked Tod, who nodded.

"They've got Widow Tweed all surrounded in the house! I came for some help," he said, looking hopefully at Copper, Sora, Riku and Kairi. He seemed extremely pleased when the three of them let Ultima Weapon, Destiny Blade and Way to Dawn appear in their mouths. Kairi seemed to have a hard time holding her keyblade.

"No problem," Sora murmured through his keyblade, and they followed the fox quickly down the trees, and Copper beamed, obviously seeing his house. Chief had managed to escape and was probably still after them. Tod's house was extremely close to Copper's, and they pushed open the door to the small cottage.

Shadows and Air Soldiers surrounded a scared old woman, who was holding a broom, trying in vain to ward off the Heartless. To have kept her heart for so long, however, she must have been evading them quite well, "Tod!" she boomed, seeing the small fox as they burst into the house.

"Don't worry, lady, we'll save you," Sora assured her, destroying a Heartless.

"She can't understand you," Copper told him, but still he pounced on another Heartless. Tod, not having hunted or held a keyblade, was not much help, but he still tried his best to defeat the Heartless. About halfway through the fight, one of the Heartless got dangerously close to Widow Tweed's heart. Tod managed to knock the Air Soldier down, and Copper pounced on it, letting it fade into the air.

As the last one faded back into darkness, Copper sighed, "They keep disappearin'. I wanted to bring one back to the master."

"Tod, oh Tod, you saved us, you and your friends," Widow Tweed looked down at Copper, Sora, Riku and Kairi, but back up when the door was busted open again. An angry looking man with an odd mustache and a big, white dog were at the doorway; the dog was growling fiercely. The man shot a bullet at the wall past the six of them, and Widow Tweed looked absolutely furious.

"Tod!" she exclaimed worriedly, "Amos Slade, you trigger-happy lunatic, give me that gun!" She backed Slade and Chief outside, and Sora, Riku, Kairi, Tod and Copper all followed them out. She pulled the gun from Amos Slade and shot at Slade's car, the radiator leaking on the ground.

"My radiator!" Slade said, distressed, "Why you blasted female, I'll... I'll..."

"Hold it right there!" The woman asked, pointing the gun at him, a slightly deranged look on her face. She must have blamed Slade for the Heartless that were attacking them. Sora would have told her otherwise, could he even talk to her.

"Watch it," Slade warned her, "that thing's loaded."

Widow Tweed pointed the gun at the air and shot, "Now it ain't loaded."

"Dognabit, woman, your fox pulled my hound out of the yard! And look at that, a wolf, another fox and a _skunk_ are with 'im, too!" Sora looked up angrily at Amos Slade; something told him that he would be fun to fight.

"They saved me from those big, black bugs that you've infested the land with!" Widow Tweed cried.

Sora twitched as the argument continued, Chief, the big, white dog, seemed to radiate darkness for a moment. "Riku, Kairi! He's taken over by the darkness!" The dog seemed to hear this, as he bared his teeth at them and ran the opposite direction.

"Get him!" Riku shouted, and the three of them ran. Copper and Tod followed soon after, not quite knowledgable, but extremely curious.

"Dagnabit!" Amos Slade exclaimed.

* * *

**Pearl Falls**

"There are so many of them," Cora complained, hacking and slashing still with Smoke on the Water. Despite her ease, Jocasta proved to be an extremely able fighter, taking out almost as many Heartless as Vice. Vice took out a lot too easy, however, because he knew exactly how Heartless and the Darkness worked.

"This is way too many for Maleficent to be able to send," Vice said, agreeing, "there's gotta be another source-" He was knocked over by a Wyvern, and shouted out.

"Vice!" Cora cried, narrowly dodging another attack by a Wyvern. She rushed up to the one that had knocked Vice backwards and slashed at it heavily with her keyblade, the Heartless finally disappearing, dropping bits of munny everywhere. Maybe she would pay Vice back for the munny she took to buy her new outfits.

As she made it to his side, he pushed himself up and threw a chakram, just narrowly missing Cora's neck. She looked at him in horror and then looked back- he had just saved her from a Wyvern approaching her from behind. "You still think I'd kill you?" Vice laughed, "You might be right, sweetheart," he pushed himself up and threw his chakrams again. Cora ignored him, slashing at another set.

"There _are_ too many," Umeko finally agreed. She was gasping; they had been fighting the swarm of Wyverns for the better part of an hour. They always seemed to retrun every time they destroyed another.

"This'll cost me a lot of my magic, but..." Jocasta murmured, and readied her sword. Crying out, she sent it like a boomerang in a circular motion, a small blizarra appearing with every rotation the sword made, destroying the last of the Wyverns, except for one or two which Coy and Vice got shortly after.

"We need to set up a defense system around here," Jocasta groaned, "anything to lessen the number of Heartless."

"We can seal the world," Umeko suggested, "that'll definitely bring down the number. Do you know where the keyhole is?"

Jocasta nodded, "I think I do. An underwater cave that's close to here, it used to be an important worshipping place for my people. The cave is underwater, though, so we'll need diving gear." Jocasta put on her friendliest smile and walked up to a merchant close to the castle. They conversed for a moment, and soon, the two of them were laughing. Jocasta was definitely a comedian. She thanked him and signaled the rest of them over. "We can borrow some diving gear for an hour," she told them.

"Great," Cora grinned and looked at the suit and air tank.

"I scuba-dove once," Coy beamed, putting on the suit over his clothing eagerly. Umeko laughed and shook her head. Again with the random blurting- he was socially awkward, but that was part of what she liked about him.

"Okay," Vice said, putting on his suit, "let's do this. We still need to get to Amber Heights, after all."

**Author's Note: Oy, it's a little too long again. I'll have to split it up into two chapters again. Oh well, hope you liked it! Please review!**


	5. What's Left Unspoken pt II

**Author's Note: Yay, I'm glad my story is well-liked so far! I think I've had the most fun writing this. Actually, I drew a picture of Maleficent and Xemnas's 'other three', the OC apprentices I made, Dallas, Vaughn and Keir. The strawberry-blond one was Keir, by the way, I realized I never introduced his name. I may introduce these three later in this chapter, or next. Please review!**

* * *

_**Chapter V:**_

_What's Left Unspoken pt. II_

**Pearl Falls**

"It's dark down here," Coy stated bluntly as they swam farther down. Practically half of the kingdom was down there under the water with specialized scuba gear that must have let them stay down there for hours at a time. That kingdom _really loved water_.

"Your eyes get used to it after a while," Jocasta laughed, leading the pack, "at least when you've grown up going under here." Umeko was suddenly envious; sometimes she wanted nothing more than to live under water. Cora, however, was obviously nervous, constantly checking her gear; she had a strong fear of drowning.

"Don't drown," Vice warned Cora, and just narrowly avoided her whacking him on the head with Smoke on the Water.

"We're almost there," Jocasta told them, "just keep your eyes peeled for any flesh eating miniature sharks," she warned them. Suddenly, Vice, Cora, Coy and Umeko all stopped swimming behind her. She turned around and shrugged, "_Kidding_," she said, rolling her eyes and continuing to swim forward.

"Oh, she'll be a blast to work with," Vice remarked sarcastically. Finally, it seemed, they past up the crowd of kids and entered an underwater field, an even darker cave lying idly at the end of it.

Jocasta continued forward before flicking on the small lights attached to her shoulders, "This we'll need flashlights for. The keyhole should be just at the end of it," she told them, but jumped backwards and pulled out her sword, still sheathed on her back, when two Aquatanks, a crowd of Missledivers and a Jet Balloon appeared in front of them. **Author's Note: Jet Balloons appeared solely in Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix, so I'm not too sure of how they fight, but I'm going to guess they're similar to the Aquatanks.**

"I thought as much," Umeko growled and rushed forward with Starseeker, going after the Jet Balloon. The three Missledivers underneath it broke off of the Jet Balloon and rushed at Umeko, knocking her backwards. Coy went straight to Umeko and hit off two of teh three Missledivers, and Umeko engaged in combat with the last one, which was surprisingly strong. Once Coy had destroyed the other two, he rushed at the Jet Balloon and destroyed it in a few fell stabs of his small daggers.

Jocasta in the meantime was taking out a large amount of Missledivers with Cora and Vice. Jocasta proved to be extremely formidable, especially because she almost had as much magic points as Vice and Cora, who specialized in magic, and she was extremely swift underwater.

"They're all gone," Cora gasped, and Jocasta smiled eagerly.

"The cave doesn't go that deep, and I doubt we'll find any Heartless by the keyhole at the end because it was a place of worship," She continued forth, excited and practically tingling with potential energy, when a small earthquake startled them all into stopping completely. "Did I mention that there was a rumor of a water monster in this cave?"

"I think it slipped your mind," Umeko grumbled, and readied her weapon. Rising from the rocks of the center of the cave seemed to be a giant Jet Balloon, with about fifty Missledivers attached to its stomach, although it was colored an odd pinkish-purple.

"This'll be fun," Jocasta said lowly, her eyes narrowing and her smile turning malicious.

"I think you belong in the military," Cora said, completely level.

* * *

**Rural Woods**

"Chief! Stop!" Sora called to the dog, but the large white dog didn't so much as look back at them as they ran through the forest, weaving between large oak trees and less-than-skillfully avoiding the burrs and other bushes.

"What're we chasin' Chief for, Sora?" Copper asked the fox ahead of him, and Sora barely looked back at him when he responded, too focused on the task at hand to pay too much attention.

"You know those bug things?" Sora called back to the dog and the fox that had just recently joined them, Tod, "They've taken over Chief. His heart might not be gone yet..." he paused, realizing that they might not understand what he's talking about, "but we have to beat the _bug_ inside of him."

"Okay!" Tod shouted out enthusiastically.

"Sora, watch out!" Riku yelled, skidding to a halt. Sora heard too late, and was swiped to the side by a giant paw. Chief stood in front of them as Sora struggled to get up- his eyes were completely bright yellow, resembling a shadow, although the rest of his body stayed the same coloration.

"Chief, what're you doin'? They're my friends!" Copper shouted at him, and rushed up to the dog.

"Copper, no!" Tod shouted.

Chief did not slow down, in fact, he didn't seem to recognize Copper at all. He lunged at the dog, but Tod threw himself in the way and got a gash in his stomach. Before Tod or Copper could rationalize what happened, Riku lunged at Chief with Way to Dawn, knocking him backwards. Just as Chief got back up, Kairi hit him to the side with Destiny Blade, and Sora got him with Ultima.

"This isn't so bad," Sora said, "he's already tiring down, look!"

Right after Sora said this, as if it was some sort of a curse, twenty Air Soldiers and multiple Air Pirates appeared in front of them, and Chief ran backwards. As the Soldiers and Pirates hesitated, they heard two voices coming from a tree. All five heads snapped towards the tree to find two birds.

"Dinky! Boomer!" Tod exclaimed.

"Shh, kid!" one of the birds, Boomer said, "You guys can't stay back here to deal with the small fry! We'll distract them, you go get Chief."

"Yeah, go get chief!" Dinky said. Suddenly, he whistled, and they had the attention of the Heartless. They flew away, low but far, and all of the Heartless started to chase the two birds. Hopefully they knew what they were doing.

"Do you know where Chief could have gone?" Sora asked Copper.

"I reckon he's gone to the huntin' site. The master, Chief and I were planning on taking a trip there." He ran in front of everyone and started to run. "Here, I'll show you guys the way!" And so Sora, Riku, Kairi and Tod all followed Copper. Tod ran up closer to Copper and decided to race the entire way there.

* * *

**Pearl Falls**

"Guys, we have to get rid of the Missledivers first, they're giving the giant Jet Balloon power. It's a symbiotic relationship!" It seemed that only Umeko knew what that meant, but the rest of them still got the point. Before they decided to keep attacking the Jet Balloon in vain, they went after the Missledivers.

The first set of ten Missledivers charged at Jocasta at once, obviously recognizing her as the Princess of Pearl Falls. "Yah!" she shouted, spinning around in the water and kicking one of the Missledivers behind her. As the full-of-energy princess regained balance, with one fell swoop she destroyed three others.

"Jocasta, watch out!" Cora shouted as the one that she kicked behind her swam back at her, but Jocasta, not even looking back, stabbed her sword backwards, sending the Misslediver to fall back into the darkness.

"She is good," Umeko mumbled, working on two Missledivers of her own, both of which were ruthlessly attacking her from the sides, but she seemed to be doing an alright job of fighting them off. In the meantime, the Giant Jet Balloon was shooting practically lethal bubbles their way that they had to dodge.

"You guys get the Missledivers!" Jocasta commanded them, swimming up to the Giant Jet Balloon, which was becoming a neusance. Before any of the Missledivers could attach themselves to the giant Heartless and heal it, she had sent it into the darkness with a strong magical water attack.

"It's gone!" Coy exclaimed, once again, pointing out the obvious, but Umeko laughed and laid her head on his shoulder, tired out.

"Yeah," Vice said, "but we have to hurry."

"Why?" Cora asked curiously as Jocasta picked up some of the munny that the giant Heartless had left behind.

"We're almost out of air." He pointed to the guage, which was shockingly low.

"Here, the keyhole should be just past this turn," Jocasta told them, and motioned them all forward. Vice seemed to be a little angry; he obviously felt challenged for the given role of 'leader' with her around, but she did know these waters better than anyone else in the group, so he let it go.

Luckily, it was just around the corner. Surrounding the keyhole were beautiful jewels and necklaces, and small, sealed goblets that seemed to hold a water with an indigo glow; it must have been some sort of holy water. Cora's keyblade yanked her arm forward, and as in its nature, it sealed the keyhole.

"Let's go now," Jocasta suggested, "I can hold my breath for ten minutes, but I doubt any of you can, and we're running out of oxygen." She sent them outside of the cave, and it was absolutely amazing how the number of Heartless decreased. "I take it this doesn't mean that my world's completely protected?" Jocasta asked Prince Vice.

Vice shook his head, "Sealed or not, Xemnas and Maleficent could easily make their way into the world. Are you sure that the sapphire is completely safe?"

Jocasta seemed to take that as some sort of challenge. "Are you sure that Radiant Garden's onyx is 'completely safe'?"

Vice nodded. "Extremely," he said in a convincing tone. Just as their oxygen was about to run out, they made it to the top of the water and out. They all stripped out of their gear, and Jocasta ran it up to the man in the stand- they had it for a little over an hour, but considering that they just made the world a lot safer, it probably didn't matter.

"Where to now?" Jocasta asked, walking back to them excitedly. For the ruler of a kingdom, she seemed to be extremely fun-loving and energetic, and had an amazing sense of humor. It seemed she was constantly on a sugar rush, or maybe they just didn't know the inhabitants of Pearl Falls well enough.

"Well, we have to get Prince Stash from Amber Heights," Vice said, cleaning off one of his chakrams- they had gotten quite wet, and were extremely hard to use underwater, so they had also gotten banged up by the rocks they were constantly smashing against.

"Right." Jocasta said, suddenly a lot less enthusiastic. "We have to go _there_. Can I just... stay in the Gummi Ship?" she asked. **Author's Note: Whenever I don't want to go into a store, that's what I say to my parents... but of course I say 'can I just stay in the car', not the gummi ship... that'd be extremely weird.**

"Why don't you want to go?" Cora asked, suddenly picking up on the doubt.

"Pearl Falls and Amber Heights have been at war forever. I could be attacked if I walk on their land, or worse, my people could be in danger." She brought her fist to her mouth and chewed on her knuckle, "I thought that _you_ were one of the members of the Amber Heights's army when you walked in. You've got earthy colored hair and eyes, olive skin, and you smell like them," she stated, looking at Cora.

"You... know how they smell?" Cora asked, confused. "And my skin's not _that_ olive," she complained in distaste, looking at her skin. It was true that her skin held more carotenoid and melanin than hemoglobin, however.

"We were all taught at a young age to know everything about spotting someone from Amber Heights in case they invaded the world. Are you sure you don't come from Amber Heights?" Jocasta asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Born in Nibelheim, raised in Twilight Town," Cora said, putting her hands up in mock surrender.

"In other news," Vice stated, cutting her off and swinging the small keys of the Gummi Ship on his fingers before he tossed them to Coy, "we have to get going if we want to make it to Amber Heights _today_.

"Jerk," Cora murmured, but they all set for the Gummi Ship.

* * *

**Rural Woods**

It wasn't long before the group found Chief running ahead of them, but he was slowing down, tired. He started to rest in the middle of an open field, but shot up again once he heard the twenty paws making their way towards them. He snarled at them expectantly, but obviously not smart enough to say anything, especially not with the influence of darkness upon him.

"Get 'im!" Copper said playfully, rushing at the dog. Chief snarled again and pounced out of the way, rushing towards the keyblade wielders. First, Riku threw Way to Dawn in a boomerang-like fashion, slicing the dog to the left.

"I think the hard part was catching him," Tod laughed, rushing at him from behind, biting his tail. Chief howled and snapped at him, but Copper pushed him out of the way, and Sora attacked him from behind. With a whimper, the dog fell to the ground, and the Heartless disappeared from him.

"Chief, Chief, are you okay?" Copper asked, nudging the dog. The white dog's nose twitched, and Copper smiled expectantly as he lifted his head to look at the five small animals surrounding him.

"In tarnation... Copper, what did ya' do ta me?" the coarse-looking dog asked Copper with a throaty voice.

"It wasn't me, Chief. It was those bugs... _Those_!" Copper shouted, backing up. Everybody backed up a few paces as well, including Chief, who turned around, when they found at least a hundred Shadows rushing towards them, their eyes hungry with a lust for hearts.

"Get them!" Kairi shouted at them, and they ran towards the cloud of Heartless.

"It's Chief," Riku spat out, "he's attracting all of these Heartless," he quickly began throttling as many Heartless as he could with spells and slashing just as Kairi and Sora were, and Copper and Tod both struggled to destroy as many Heartless as they could. Chief cowered slightly, but he tried his best to summon his hunting skills and rush at the Heartless.

"We have to find the keyhole," Sora decided.

"But where is it?" Riku mumbled to himself.

"Is that what yer lookin' for?" Copper asked, running towards a tree at the distance that had the outline of a keyhole on the trunk. Sora smiled excitedly in glee and ran towards the keyhole, parting the sea of Heartless. The Shadows behind him chased after him, and the shadows in front of him lunged towards him. He barely avoided losing his heart when his keyblade glowed with power, and the world around him changed as he sealed the keyhole.

When all scenery was restored around them, all of the Heartless disappeared, but before they could celebrate, another evil came rushing towards them, followed soon by Widow Tweed; Amos Slade.

"We should go," Sora called back to them, and rushed out of the clearing to behind a tree, followed soon after by Riku and Kairi. They decided to stay a little while to hear what was going on and to make sure that Copper and Tod would be safe.

"I knew your dog was the source of all this!" Widow Tweed shouted at Amos Slade.

"_My_ dog? Your fox ran and made my dog follow it!"

"That wasn't my fox, that was a wild fox you trigger-happy lunatic!" Widow Tweed shouted at the man, and the man seemed to remember how she handled a rifle, so he backed up a pace. Copper and Tod, however, enjoying their last moments together, conversed.

"Copper," Tod started, "you're my very best friend."

"And you're mine, too, Tod."

"Let's go," Sora whispered to them, and they rushed back to the Gummi Ship. As they turned back into humans, they found themselves on all fours, and laughed at each other for a moment. "It's getting late. We should head back to Destiny Islands," Sora suggested, "we've gotta make sure it wasn't swallowed up yet."

"Don't even say that," Riku laughed, taking control of the ammunition as Sora launched the Gummi Ship upwards. Kairi sighed, leaning against the back of Sora's chair so she could get a good view of the enemy ships and the road ahead of them.

"I'm just happy that I don't stink anymore," Kairi sighed.

"Speak for yourself!" Sora laughed, and Kairi hit him on the shoulder.

"Well, aren't you an amazing boyfriend?" Kairi mocked in his ear, but Sora laughed, leaned behind him and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'm kidding," he assured her, "so how long do you think until King Mickey finds out that we're unlocking worlds?"

"Considering he's got that huge radar and knows that Vice and the others aren't anywhere near Rural Woods?" Riku asked, and as he paused, Sora's phone rang, "I'd say he'd be calling right about now."

Sora picked up his phone; of course. **Author's Note: Wouldn't that be awesome? Finding on your caller ID: Mickey Mouse, or if you have one of those cool phones that show the pictures, seeing a giant mouse on your screen. xD.** "King Mickey?" Sora asked, awaiting the answer.

"Somethin' told me that you guys wouldn't be takin' my 'stay out of it' speech too lightly, ah-huh," Mickey laughed lightly through the other line of the phone, "but you're going to need some help, so once the Jewel Alliance is put together, they're going to go around lockin' worlds, too, got it?"

Sora tried to take this all in- shouldn't the king be yelling at him? "Yeah, sure," he said, enthusiastically, "We won't let you down, your highness."

"I know ya won't." And with that, the king hung up.

"Looks like we've got a lot of work ahead of us," Sora said happily, steering back towards home. It must have been around late afternoon by then; he wondered faintly how Prince Vice and Prince Coy were doing in getting Princess Jocasta and Prince Stash.

* * *

**Amber Heights**

If Sora's group thought that Pearl Falls's rushing waterfalls and beautiful lakes were gorgeous, they didn't know what they expected at Amber Heights. Everything gave off the glow of a low red, brown or gold, and all of the people, walking around comfortably, had earthy toned hair and eyes, and slightly tanned skin. Cora gave a confused look; she _did_ look like she belonged in there. It was also extremely obvious where the castle was- it was large and made entirely of a pretty, reddish brown stone.

"Hey," Vice said, breathing deeply, "this place smells familiar."

"It smells like Cora," Umeko said cheerfully.

"Okay, I get it, I smell like amber, can we get going now?" Cora asked, annoyed, and Jocasta, Vice, Umeko and Coy all laughed at her, going forward.

"The people of Amber Heights aren't quite as tight in their security as my people are," Jocasta explained, "but I'm still a little bit worried about not fitting in here, so..." Jocasta reached behind her and pulled a hat and sunglasses out of her bag. She pulled her blue ponytail into a hat, leaving no source of hair, and put her sunglasses on, "Call me Jo as long as we're here. At least until we leave with _Prince Stash_," she said that name with distaste.

"Okay, Jo," Cora smiled, and she ahd the last laugh as Jocasta hit her lightly on the shoulder.

"And don't forget," she said, "no Princess stuff."

"Excuse me, _Jo_," Vice said challengingly, turning around to size up Jocasta, "we're not in your turf anymore, so I call the shots. Got it?" He raised an eyebrow and she smiled at him as sweet as she could manage.

"Sure, Vice, sure," laughed Jocasta.

"I don't see any Heartless at all," Cora mumbled as they walked down the trail. Even the leaves that were falling all around them were golden, red and brown, giving them the illusion of a constant Autumn. Cora sighed dreamily; if she could live in any world, maybe it would be Amber Heights.

The five of them stopped in their tracks as they came across three figures, unfamiliar to them. The first one was a boy with long, red hair and oddly colored tips, emotionless grey eyes. He was wearing a long, pink cloak and a carefree expression on his face. The other one, the one in the middle, had slightly shorter strawberry blond hair and violet eyes, wearing a tank top and jeans. He had four claw marks on his right cheek shaped like a scar. He had large muscles and high cheekbones. The last one was the tallest of the three, taller than the other two by about a half of a head, with hair that varied between navy, baby blue and green depending on the lighting, and navy eyes. The boy was slightly lanky, and he was wearing all green.

"Dallas?" Jocasta whispered, looking at the boy all the way to the right. Her heart must have stopped at that moment, as she pulled off her hat and sunglasses, and looked completely still at the boy, "I thought you were dead."

The boy looked down at the girl, still ten feet away from them, before he crossed his arms over his chest. "I thought you said you would never be caught dead in Amber Heights, Jocasta," the boy responded, his voice was low and smoothly connected.

"Who is he?" Vice asked, calling upon his chakrams.

"My brother, Dallas," Jocasta murmured, "he was always jealous because Pearl Falls is ruled primarily by the female monarchy. But I thought that he had died with my parents when they tried to save the world from falling into darkness two years ago."

"Not going to introduce us, Dallas?" the boy with the long, red hair asked lazily, cocking his head to his left to look up at his friend.

Dallas grinned maliciously, "We're up for introductions now? Alrighty then," he motioned to the redhead, "That's Vaughn," he then motioned to the boy, seemingly the leader of the three as he was in the center, "and that's Keir. And we're here to kill you."

**Author's Note: Well, wasn't that a cheerful introduction? So, I totally didn't mean to make Dallas related to Jocasta, but when I was drawing the three characters tonight and I gave Dallas this really cool dark blue, light blue and green hair, I realized he somewhat resembled my drawing of Jocasta. I should introduce Prince Stash next chapter, if all goes well.**

**Oh, and as a warning, I may not get the chance to get a chapter up next Saturday, because we're celebrating my birthday in Chicago, even though my birthday's this Wednesday, July 30th. So, sorry! I hope you liked this chapter, please review!**


	6. I Love You Dumb and Colorblind

**Author's Note: This chapter might be somewhat long, so bear with me. I'm surprised that it's only been one day since chapter four, but I'm sort of glad that it's moving a little slower. I expect to make Cora's next dream in the next chapter, so we get to see it! I'm pretty excited for that. And I'm introducing Prince Stash in this chapter- my God, I have so many OCs. Anyway, please read and review!**

* * *

_**Chapter VI:**_

_I Love You Dumb and Colorblind_

**Amber Heights**

"I'd like to see you _try_," Jocasta spat back at Dallas's threat, suddenly angry and malicious. This girl's moods seemed to change on a dime, but it was excusable- her brother, after all, was probably the reason her parents had died trying to save Pearl Falls from the darkness two years ago. It takes a person with a particular amount of darkness in their hearts to attract the big Heartless, after all.

"Don't make me laugh, sis," Dallas responded sweetly as his weapon appeared in his hand- a keyblade. It was long-reach with waves giong around it until they met at a crest just below the teeth, a mixture of navy and turquoise. The teeth looked as if they were made of shells.

"A keyblade?" Cora and Umeko both breathed, dropping theirs slightly.

"Did you expect Maleficent to pick anything less?" the strawberry blond, Keir asked as he called upon a keyblade of his own. The thing practically radiated electricity as it appeared; the golden weapon was relatively plain and short-reach until it reached the teeth, where it extended to razor-sharp points, which were pink like thorns.

"How droll," the first boy on the left, Vaughn chortled, calling upon his own keyblade. A mixture of pink and blood red, it looked like an overpigmented pink hydrangea. At the shaft, unnecessary but probably lethal spikes jutted out, the points a sickly green. The teeth looked relatively basic.

Umeko, who had studied keyblades when she was trying to find out how she could wield one, recognized all of them. "Vaughn's got Lethal Valentine. Keir has Power Shock and Dallas has Poison Sea. They're really rare keychains," she murmured to Cora.

Vice, who had heard them, just laughed, "Three of them against five of us. Something tells me this won't be difficult." He threw one of his fiery black chakrams at Vaughn, but Vaughn was prepared. He brought up Lethal Valentine and reflected both of them out in different directions in the air and charged towards Vice. Vice's chakrams appeared in his hands before Vaughn managed to get a hit on him, and he held them out in front of him, barely managing to stay still as Vaughn pushed Lethal Valentine on them.

"You've been in the darkness before, haven't you?" Vaughn asked, barely breaking a sweat as he pushed harder against Vice's chakrams, "You're a good shot. How would you like to rejoin the darkness and help Maleficent and Xemnas?"

Vice smirked, "Tempting offer, but there are two problems with that. One," Vice moved out of the way and threw his first chakram at Vaughn, sending him flying backwards, "I'm keeping a promise at the moment." He caught his chakram. "Two?" Vice threw the other one at Vaughn just as he struggled to get up, sending him back down. He put his foot on Vaughns chest and bent over, smiling still, "I work for no one."

"Ah, now I know where I recognize you!" Vaughn laughed a hideous laugh as he kicked upwards, pushing Vice behind and back from him. He twisted up and pointed Lethal Valentine threateningly back at him, "Thomas. Former Heartless. So deep down in the darkness that it gave you your own _body_! And then you forced that girl to give you a heart, no? If you wanted to be stronger in the dark..." Vaughn thrusted his keyblade at him multiple times, rarely missing, "You shouldn't have gotten a _heart_," he cooed, "no wonder you _lost to the light_."

And again, rage overtook Vice as he threw his chakrams out at the boy. Meanwhile, Coy had abandoned Cora, who was fighting Keir, to help out with Vaughn. Keir seemed to be stronger physically, but Vaughn knew how to leave a mark mentally.

Jocasta and Umeko were fighting Dallas. Dallas seemed to be fighting with Jocasta just like they were three and five years old again, trying to get themselves riled up. "If the monarchy was for the males, you know that I would be able to run Pearl Falls with a hand behind my back. Maybe if you stopped _socializing_ and started _ruling_, you wouldn't be having trouble." Dallas suggested, but Jocasta knocked his keyblade backwards with her sword, and Umeko stabbed at him with Starseeker, but he regained control of Poison Sea and knocked Umeko backwards.

"It's almost too bad that Pearl Falls _isn't_ ruled by the males, huh?" Jocasta asked cheerfully, although her speech betrayed her actions as she was not faltering in the slightest, "You were the mistake, after all, mom and dad always wanted a daughter to rule, they never wanted you!" She laughed, and knocked him backwards, but as Umeko returned, both her and Jocasta were hit to the ground by a strange blizzard attack.

When Jocasta got back up, she felt a keyblade to her neck and saw Dallas smiling almost _psychotically_. He said slowly and menacingly, "That's why I killed them."

Jocasta was attacking like a bullet now, showing no mercy. At the rate that she was knocking him around, Umeko barely got a chance to hit him back. "Cora," Umeko called to her friend, "they're trying to mess with us to make us falter. Don't listen to anything he says!" she called to Cora, who barely heard, but nodded anyway.

"So you're the famous Cora!" Keir laughed, and after he knocked Cora backwards, he took Power Shock and bowed with it. "It' snice to finally meet the most gullible keyblade wielder in history." He already hit the mark; if anything, he would make Cora fight harder. She ran back up to him and managed to hit him in the side, but as he threw Power Shock and knocked her shoulder with it, she could feel a buzz of electricity go through her.

"Gullible? How do you mean?" Cora asked, avoiding his next attack.

"Maybe better words are indecisive. So what is it, Cora, light or dark?" he asked her.

"Wherever _you're_ not," Cora decided, and threw her keyblade forward in a move that she had stolen once before from Riku, where it flew like a boomerang and came back to her. It seemed she finally perfected the move, as it came right back.

"Good call," Keir growled, bigning himself back up and rushing at her with Power Shock, "Because I'm _scary_, Cora."

"You know what else is scary?" Cora asked, narrowly avoiding his attack, but Keir stopped and raised an eyebrow at Cora as she answered herself, "The Amber Heights army," She flicked her head back behind Keir.

Keir looked behind him, as did Dallas and Vaughn. A whole crowd of people with large machine guns, half of them kneeling on the ground to get a better shot. "Stop right there," came the commander, "you seven are under arrest for disturbing the peace of Amber Heights and bringing upon the Heartless."

"Later," Vaughn laughed, falling through a hole in the ground, a portal to the darkness, below him. Dallas and Keir mimicked him, and soon, the only ones that were left were Vice, Coy, Umeko, Cora and Jocasta.

"Uhm." Jocasta said, fumbling with her hat and sunglasses, barely getting them on in time, "I'm Jo."

"Princess of Pearl Falls. Prince Stash will be delighted to know that you've been captured." The leader threw some device at all of them that caught behind their hands and bound their wrists like shackles, and four guards came up and began to take Vice, Umeko, Coy and Jocasta away.

"Huh?" Cora asked, realizing she had not been bound. One member of the army walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Nice work, citizen, finding the disturbers of the peace, but curfew is about to come and you should go back home now. Take care," The soldier walked off with the other part of the army, and Cora sighed.

"I dun live here," she grumbled lazily and unnecessarily. It wasn't like anyone would believe her; she smelled like amber, had brown hair and eyes, olive skin and was tall, which the rest of them seemed to be. Maybe her relatives had come from Amber Heights; she never got a chance to ask her parents. Still, deciding not to argue as she could use this to her advantage, Cora began to follow the army back to the castle.

* * *

**Disney Castle**

"_SHUT UP!_" Donald Duck shouted at the girl, Oki, as she simply continued to babble on about how unfai all of this was. She had been detained in a room for Donald to watch after her until all of the worlds around them were sealed and Maleficent, Xemnas and their three apprentices were destroyed. "King Mickey, making me, an all-powerful mage of his castle, babysit a _brat_..."

"I think it's kinda fun!" Goofy admitted, sitting downand listening to Oki rant.

"Easy for you to say!" Donald fumed, "The king's not making you do anything!"

"You know what, Donald? You're an asshole. I'm leaving, tell the king, 'oops, she got away because your dipshit mage didn't know how to treat a lady'!" Oki complained, glaring at the walking, talking duck.

"But, uh, Oki? Ya can't go anywhere. Yer tied up," Goofy told her.

"Technicalities, technicalities," Oki mumbled. She leaned over so that her feet touched the ground and began to waddle forward, the chair beneath her still attached to her butt. She gained speed and burst through the door.

"No!" Donald shouted, running after the chair. That was the second time that day! "This time I'll tie you to the floor!" Donald shouted. Goofy, too, was running behind him, but he seemed to think of the activity as pure sport.

"Uh, Donald, what if she runs away with that, too?" Goofy asked.

"You dunderhead!" He continued forward before he finally gained on Oki and tackled the chair down halfway through the hallway. As he piled on top of the girl, Goofy joined them, and they all lied in one, motionless heap before King Micke, on his way to the throne room, stopped in front of them and frowned.

"Everything alright here, fellas?" King Mickey asked them. Slowly and painfully, the three of them nodded.

"I'm tying you to the _floor_," Donald repeated.

* * *

**Amber Heights**

When Cora finally got close enough to the palace, she ran forward and through the visitors entrance and waited for a guard to tell her that it was alright for her to walk in and see the prince. The castle was noticeably different than the one at Pearl Falls- it was warmer, for one, and the colors were a bit more pleasing to the eye, at least to Cora.

Prince Stash looked like the kind of prince from storybooks. His hair was medium-length and brown, parted slightly to the left, and his eyes were the same dark brown as Cora's. She thoguht momentarily that Prince Coy probably would have fit in if his hair and eyes were darker. He was dressed casually and playing with the small crown on his head. His eyes widened worriedly as she walked in. "Not another concubine," he mumbled.

Cora shook her head slowly, a little worried, "No..." she murmured, "I'm here to talk about my friends. They were captured just recently by your army because they think that they've been the source of the Heartless, but," Smoke on the Water appeared in her hands, "we've actually been trying to save you guys from the Heartless, and we know the five people who have really been bringing them here."

"Who are they?" Prince Stash asked, a little more amused with counting the tiles in the ceiling above him.

"their names are Vaughn, Dallas and Keir, they're-"

"Dallas, like, Prince Dallas from Pearl Falls? I should have known," Stash laughed.

"_Listen_. What about my friends?" Cora asked.

"I think I'd like you better as a concubine, at least that way you'd be quieter," Stash murmured, rubbing his temples, "Who are your friends? Their names, the ones that my army captured from you."

"Prince Vice of Radiant Garden, Prince Coy of Eventide Mountains, Umeko, and..." Cora sighed, she had no other choice. Maybe if he realized that he captured the princess he would let her go, "Princess Jocasta of Pearl Falls."

"I knew it!" Prince Stash laughed. "I don't know, having captured Princess Jocasta, it means that she was on my territory. This could make us winners of the war. But... I'll consider letting them go, if you'll play a game with me."

"A game?" Cora asked, not quite sure if she could believe what she had been hearing.

"Yeah, a game. It'll also help me get rid of these Heartless," Stash decided, laughing. "There are about fifty Assault Riders outside of my castle, in the courtyard." Cora shuddered; Assault Riders were annoying. "If you can get all of them out of my courtyard in one minute, I'll let your friends go."

"One minute?!" Cora asked, but when Stash raised a challenging eyebrow, she sighed. "Fine, fine. Not like I have any other choice. And if I don't get rid of them?"

"Hm. I guess you'll be a concubine."

"_What_?!" Cora asked angrily. Asshole. If she didn't win, she'd just find another way to get her friends out, no matter. "Whatever, I'm going to the courtyard. Come and time me." Prince Stash smiled coyly and led her to the courtyard. She could see all of the Assault Riders prancing around outside, occasionally butting heads with each other. "One minute?" she asked Prince Stash.

The Prince nodded. "Starting the second you enter the courtyard." She nodded and walked through the door _after_ calling Smoke on the Water. As if she were an alarm, all of the heads of the Assault Riders twisted towards her and rushed at her. For the first thirty seconds, Cora fended off as many as she could.

"Half a minute left," Stash called to her, looking at his watch amused, leaning against the wall.

"You have a _sick_ sense of humor!" Cora called back, destroying another Assault Rider.

"I know," Prince Stash said, content with himself.

Soon, there were only ten seconds left. "Ten seconds. Nine. Eight."

There were still ten Assault Riders left.

And suddenly, it hit Cora. Through a reaction, she threw her keyblade out, radiating with a Thundaga spell, one that Keir had used against her. This sent the last ten Assault Riders high in the sky and out of the courtyard.

"Three, two, one. Looks like I won," Prince Stash smiled, "You didn't kill all of them. He walked up to her, a crazy look in his eyes."

"Actually, I won," Cora smiled proudly, "You told me that if I could get them _out of your courtyard_ that you would release my friends. There they are, they're out of your courtyard." The shocked look on Prince Stash's face made him look like he was slapped.

"Note to self- don't allow loopholes," Prince Stash sighed, "fine, I'll release your friends. Let's go back to the prison."

* * *

**Destiny Islands**

"Sunset," Kairi smiled, sitting at the bending tropical tree. Sora laid on his back, his legs towards Kairi, and Riku leaned against it. The sunset really was beautiful. "Looks all the same after a while," she admitted, laughing.

"I disagree," Riku spoke, his eyes not leaving the sun, "every day looks different to me."

"Hey, you guys remember the paopu fruits?" Kairi asked them, bringing her hand up to touch one of the paopu fruits next to her, they were just in bloom. Riku and Sora eyed each other warily, and then looked towards Kairi, nodding. She giggled and jumped off of the tree. Kairi plucked off the paopu fruit and shoved it in the pocket of her short dress. "I'll race you!"

"What? Now?" Sora laughed, but he jumped off of the tree as well. Riku flung himself off of the side and followed them, laughing along the way. Kairi had really gotten better at running; then again, she had long legs. Sora and Riku stopped and pondered as they realized that she had just led them to the secret place.

"What're we here for?" Sora asked.

"I haven't been here in years," Riku admitted.

"Just follow me," Kairi complained, climbing through the small hole in the wall. Sora and Riku shrugged, following her. She said nothing as she walked through the hole until she made it to one drawing on the wall in particular, of Sora and Kairi eating a paopu fruit. Sora suddenly became nervous and backed up a pace.

Kairi, however, kneeled down in front of the drawings and picked up a rock, beginning to etch something else on there, looking back at Riku every once in a while. "It's done," she smiled, backing off. Both Sora and Riku looked at the drawing, eyes open and mouths drooping.

Riku was in the middle of the three of them, and the paopu fruit was split in thirds. "I want us to all be friends forever. For better or for worse." Kairi smiled, and pulled the paopu fruit from her pocket, splitting it into three sections. "That way, no matter what, we'll always be together. Our destinies will be intertwined."

Sora raised his eyebrow, speculating. "But I'm still your boyfriend, right?"

Kairi giggled and leaned up to kiss him. When she broke apart, she said, "Of course. I just know that this journey is a little difficult and... I want to know that, no matter what, we'll always be together."

"Sounds good to me," Riku said and shoved part of his piece in his mouth. The three of them laughed, smiled and told stories as they ate their share of the paopu fruit. For that moment, it seemed like everything was going right in the world.

"Speaking of Nobodies," Sora began, finishing off his piece of paopu fruit, "I wonder how Naminé and Roxas are doing. They're supposed to be taking care of the Radiant Garden castle, right? I'll bet they're doing alright."

"Oh, sure," Kairi nodded, smiling.

Riku nodded as well. "Of course."

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

"THEY'RE _EVERYWHERE_!" Roxas cried, flailing to defeat another twenty shadows in the area around the castle. No matter how many they destroyed, morea nd more just kept appearing. Roxas's arms felt like they were going to fall off, and Naminé seemed to be working hard to simply stay standing.

"We need to find the keyhole," Naminé suggested, gasping for breath as she destroyed another few Knights.

"Where is it?" Roxas asked.

"I don't know!" Naminé called back, letting her temper get to her, "I'm tired, I'm sweaty, and if I had a heart, it would be having an attack right now!" she cried, ruthlessly beating up another small Shadow. **Author's Note: Just a little bit of comic relief for you. We'll have some more Roxas and Naminé when they return to Radiant Garden later.**

* * *

**Amber Heights**

"Thanks, Cora," Umeko smiled, but not before shooting a glare at the general that had locked them in the jail. "You see? I told you that you look like the people here!" She beamed at Cora, but Cora just sighed.

"Don't forget you smell like them," Jocasta reminded her.

"I get it," Cora said impatiently.

"Princess Jocasta, I haven't seen you in ten years," Prince Stash laughed, and pulled out a deck of cards from his pocket, "Do you want to play some cards?" He eyed her, and she backed up a few paces.

"What, so you can steal my Barbie from me again? I don't think so." Jocasta's lips pursed together as she backed up, and then she mumbled in a confused Coy's ears, "He's always had a little bit of a gambling problem." **Author's Note: If you couldn't tell, part of my inspiration for this character was Luxord.**

"I suppose that you all didn't come here to ambush Amber Heights, then?" Prince Stash said, suddenly bored and walking back to his throne room, not looking back at the five behind him, more focused on something else.

"No, Prince Stash," Vice said, trying to be as level as possible. Being trapped didn't do a lot for him; he had threatened Jocasta, Coy and Umeko multiple times in their short twenty minute stay in prison, "we're here to tell you about the Heartless. Maleficent, Xemnas, and three others, Vaughn, Keir and Dallas are controlling the Heartless. They're trying to get the amber stone of Amber Heights along with the sapphire of Pearl Falls, the ruby of Disney Castle, the amethyst of Eventide Mountains and the opal of Radiant Garden."

"I assure you, the amber stone of Amber Heights is completely safe." Stash replied.

"It's in your pocket, isn't it?" Jocasta asked, sighing.

"Yes." Stash replied, his eyes wide. "Why?"

Jocasta shook her head. "The point is, we have to find your keyhole and seal it so it won't be easier for the Heartless to steal your jewel." Vice elbowed her in the side. "Ow! Oh... right. And... we could use your help getting through the Heartless to lock up worlds, because there are a lot of them."

"And why should I help you?" Stash asked, making himself comfortable in his throne.

"You're stupid enough to keep a jewel of deadly power in your pocket when the Heartless are after it?" Cora suggested. Umeko, Coy, Vice and Jocasta all nodded and then turned their attention back to Stash.

"You've got a point," Stash sighed, scratching his head. "Fine. I'll go with you to seal the keyhole and lock up some worlds. My brother can take over while I'm gone. But only because I don't plan on ruling over a world that's in End of the World." He sighed and jumped off of his throne and dusted off his jeans.

"Stash?" Jocasta asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"What?"

"Unless you want to be killed by Heartless on our way, I'd lock the jewel up somewhere."

"Right." With that, Stash opened the cushion to the throne and stuck it underneath. "Nobody'll suspect it there. Actually, we haven't had a lot of Heartless lately."

"I beg to differ," Cora mumbled.

"And I know exactly where the keyhole is. Follow me." After Stash spoke this, he walked forward again. It seemed that Jocasta, Stash and Vice would be constantly fighting for dominance in the group, and Cora was alright with that, but Umeko seemed a little peeved; she usually worked alone, but when she worked in a group, she preferred to be the leader. Coy didn't seem to care either way.

The six of them left the castle and entered quickly what looked like a canyon. "Back when my people had wings we used to fly off of the edge here and see how far we could go. Of course, I wasn't alive that long..."

"It's just a myth," Jocasta whispered to a worried Cora, "people don't belong in the sky."

"People don't belong underwater, either," Stash snapped at the girl. "Anyway..." he walked to the side of the cliff.

"Please jump off, please jump off, please jump off..." Jocasta mumbled, wringing her shirt expectantly. Instead, Stash pushed between two bushes in front of another wall which had the small etching of a keyhole in it.

Umeko, who was closest to the keyhole, pointed Starseeker up at the hole, and for a moment, she was in her own little world as the hole clicked shut and disappeared. "There," she said, smiling, "now we should get back to Radiant Garden. I'm wiped."

For a moment, the six of them just looked off at the sunset off of the Amber Cliffs.

"Wow," Jocasta sighed, "I never really paid attention to the sunset."

For a moment, it seemed that Stash didn't want to argue with Jocasta, "It's beautiful here," he said, "the way that the light reflects off of the amber, it's like the world is drowning in pink, orange and yellow. I love it here," he sighed.

"Did you just say something that wasn't completely derogatory?" Cora asked, shocked.

"I think I did." Stash laughed, "As long as I'm at it, I'm sorry for threatening to make you a concubine earlier."

"_What_?" Vice asked, suddenly angry. He put his arms around Cora, just under her neck, and pulled her close, "No. No. She's mine."

"I'm _who's_ now?" Cora asked angrily, pulling herself off of him, huffing. Umeko, Coy, Jocasta and Stash all threw themselves in an endless laughing fit.

"Mine," Vice repeated, "I mean, after all, we promised each other that we wouldn't leave each other for a whole year. Doesn't that technically make you mine?" he asked, completely casual in how he was speaking.

"No!" Cora cried out, and this time Vice laughed, looking at where her hand was- playing with the locket that he had given her nervously. Before Cora could let him see her cheeks blushing a bright red, she murmured, "Let's go."

**Author's Note: Yay, it's done! I'm glad, my hands are actualy cramping over from typing. I've got so many ideas for the next chapter, and I hope you guys liked this one! I'll end this like I end every chapter: please review!**


	7. Sunsets and Silhouette Dreams

**Author's Note: Well, this chapter was pretty fun to write. I'll try to get another one up later today or early tomorrow morning, but it's my birthday, so don't expect a lot. The inspiration for every part of this chapter **_**except**_** for the scenes in Aurora's Castle was You Be the Anchor that Keeps my Feet on the Ground, And I'll be the Wings that keeps your Heart in the Clouds by Mayday Parade.**

* * *

_**Chapter VII:**_

_Proof that there's Sunsets and Silhouette Dreams_

**Radiant Garden**

In the end, Vice had become so angry about what Stash had threatened Cora with before, that she ended up having to sleep in the same room as him She, however, got the bed and Vice had to sleep on the floor. Not that this made her comfortable; she was constantly opening her eyes and closing them back in the first hour before all of the unneeded effort finally caused her to fall straight asleep.

A dream came. Cora was a little upset; after all, she thought that maybe the dreams- or nightmares- wouldn't be reoccuring because it had skipped a day. INstead, she was faced with the same dream, but longer and clearer.

_The faces were familiar this time to Cora. Through the silhouettes, she could faintly see the faces of Vice, Coy, Jocasta and Stash, all surrounding King Mickey. They were facing something, and didn't seem to acknowledge that Cora was there at all. Realizing that they were staring at something behind her, Cora flipped around and saw._

_It was Radiant Garden- or at least, it should have been. The castle was half destroyed, the city around it almost completely gone and the sky above it dark. The Radiant Garden was once again the ruins of Hollow Bastion. There was a short mumbling, but Cora snapped and let herself listen as closely as possible; after all, she didn't know when she was going to hear this again._

_"Maleficent did this," a voice came. She recognized it as King Mickey's. "But she still hasn't found the opal." He must have been referring to the Opal of Radiant Garden. How could she have not found it after all of that wreckage._

_"I've hidden it someplace she'll never find it," Vice assured him but said nothing more._

_"Was risking Radiant Garden worth all that?" Prince Stash asked, taunting Vice as always, looking up at him through his heavy eyelids. "It doesn't matter. With or without the opal, they've already won."_

_"Don't talk like that," Jocasta reassured him._

_"She needs all five of them," Coy reminded them._

_"The Jewel Alliance," a voice came through the smoke behind them. The five monarchies turned around and watched three silhouetted figures emerge from the smoke- Vaughn, Keir and Dallas were standing threateningly, pointing Lethal Valentine, Power Shock and Poison Sea at the five of them. They were worn- even as they all pulled their weapons up, Jocasta's sword, Stash's staff of suns, Coy's daggers, Vice's chakrams and Mickey's Kingdom Key, they seemed like they had lost all spirit._

_"Why aren't Umeko and I with them?" Cora meant to ask herself, but no voice would come to her throat._

_"You're _weak_," Vaughn said first, edging towards them as they edged back._

_"You always were," Dallas then added, a sinister look in his deep blue eyes._

_"And we know where the opal is- the girl, Oki told us all about it." Keir finished._

_"How does Oki know, Vice?" Jocasta asked, but she got no answer, "How does she __**know**__?!" Jocasta shouted at him, and Vaughn, Dallas and Keir all laughed like hyenas, edging only closer towards them._

_"Because I told Cora while we were in the Realm of color in case something like this happened," he responded, but then looked at Keir and his group unflinchingly, yet still backing away from them. "Where did she tell you it was?"_

_"Your _heart_," Vaughn said in such a voice that made the three of them laugh like jackals once again. This time, Vice gave them a smug smile and shook his head, "What's so funny?" he asked the prince._

_"You can tear me to pieces, rip out my heart... but you will never find it."_

_Suddenly, the scene changed. She did not see Xemnas rising from the ashes as she had before, but this time, Xemnas was sitting on the throne that Vice rarely actually sat at. He was throwing up four jewels- the amber of Amber Heights, the sapphire of Pearl Falls, the ruby of Disney Castle and the emerald of Eventide Mountains. They were small, about a fourth of the size of a penny, but he seemed satisfied enough._

_"Cora," he stated, and Cora trembled before she realized that, standing behind her, was an exact duplicate of herself, except she was wearing different clothes and looked a little worse for the wear. "I take it you haven't come to surrender the opal to me."_

_Cora's duplicate walked forward and through Cora, so she got a look at herself and Xemnas. "I don't even know where your precious opal is," she said, putting her left hand to her heart as Smoke on the Water appeared in her right had, "but what I do know is that your plans have failed because I'm here to kill you."_

_"I think you do know where it is, Cora," Xemnas laughed now, at first a low chuckle, but then it grew to a maniacal laugh, one that Cora did not want to hear. "Why don't you just go and ask Vice where it is?"_

_"Because that would put Vice in danger, you moron!" Cora called back, her hand shaking on her keyblade. Xemnas seemed perfectly comfortable._

_"Why are you so worried about Vice, Cora?" He paused, smirking, "Why don't you tell me?"_

_"You want me to _tell_ you?" Cora asked, finally. She seemed to be hanging on one last thread. Her hand stopped shaking and she walked directly up to Xemnas, sizing him up as he stood, "You want to finally hear it? I love him." She paused as Xemnas's eyes darkened, "I love Vice."_

_Xemnas, full of an unexplicable rage, grabbed the dream Cora's shoulder, but for some reason, she could feel it._

Cora awoke out of her dream, screaming. The hand on her shoulder had not yet gone away. "Cora!" Vice called. He was standing by her with only boxers on and his hair unusually more tousled, obviously having just woken up, "You have to get up. The Heartless must have just multiplied by four- they're everywhere. Xemnas even summoned some Nobodies. We have to save the castle."

Cora didn't need to hear any more. Uncaring who was in the room, she changed quickly and rushed down the stairs to meet Jocasta, Stash, Coy and Umeko, along with Naminé and Roxas. She didn't dare think about the dream any more, because if she didn't save the castle, it very well may come true.

Still, she couldn't handle the nervous pang she felt in her stomach when Vice rushed down the stairs, holding his chakrams in an attack stance. "Hurry," he commanded the seven others.

* * *

**Aurora's Castle**

"Why are we here?" Kairi asked, walking into the foyer. It was considerably cold and extremely dark, but she had been in a good enough mood since the day before when they all shared the paopu fruit that she didn't may it any mind.

"Because Maleficent is behind everything," Sora said, "so we might want to get some information from Flora, Fauna and Merryweather about Maleficent and her ideas of attack so we can warn the Jewel Alliance."

"Maybe even Princess Aurora can tell us something," Kairi suggested. She remembered faintly waking up to realize that she had been staying with Aurora and the other princesses back in the ruins of Hollow Bastion, but just from that, all of the princesses have considered each other friends since then.

"She might be sleeping," Riku mused aloud.

"What gives you that idea?" Sora asked as they stood idly in the foyer.

"Well, nobody ever told us if Princess Aurora was woken up by true love's first kiss."

"I thought that was Snow White," Kairi thought aloud.

"I think it was both of them," Riku mused, rubbing his chin.

"Okay, true love's first kiss, we got it," Sora said, rushing them, "in case you didn't notice," he motioned towards the crowd of Shadows standing in front of them expectantly, "it looks like we have a keyhole to seal."

The three of them rushed forth with Ultima, Way to Dawn and Destiny Blade in hand, destroying the Heartless as if they were nothing. Still, the amount of Heartless was insane. "Maleficent can't be summoning _all_ of these," Sora complained, destroying yet another seven Heartless around him. **Author's Note: Jeez, I've put Sora through so much that if this were a video game he'd be at level 400 or so. x.o**

"Actually," Riku began, "for once, I agree. Even when I worked under Maleficent, she could never summon this many at once." He used his signature boomerang-keyblade move and sent another ten or so back into the darkness. "We have to get to the keyhole, and fast," he rushed up the stairs with both of the others, "where do you think we should go?"

"Where Aurora sleeps," Kairi suggested, "think about it. Her true love has to wake her up, the heart of the world is the keyhole. It has to be at the place with the most heart. We have to find Aurora!" **Author's Note: Much of the below is comic relief, but I'm allowed because it's my birthday. :D**

"You are looking for Aurora?" a voice came from a little farther down the stairs. A very handsome man with cinnamon brown hair and dark eyes, wearing a brown and black tunic, held a longsword close to him. "So am I. There is power in numbers- may I accompany you on the journey?" he asked them.

Sora blinked. "Dude..."

Riku started, "Just say, 'can I come'."

Suddenly, the man crossed his arms. "I can dig it, my home slice. Yo, the name's Phil-izzle. I need to find the shawty Princess, yo."

Silence.

"Let's just go... Phil-izzle," Kairi sighed, and ran up the stairs, following Sora. He tended to destroy most of the Heartless before they got down to the rest of them, but when Phil-izzle was faced with a Heartless, they generally ran away from him and his poor freestyle rapping skills.

"Yo at first I was a prince so gallant and true

But then I came ova' here to rescue you.

Found this castle in the hood and thought it was tight

Found these three fighters and said, 'Alright!'

I got a sword and it's sharp just like my tongue

I got a face and it's hot just like yo' mum!

Yo my rapping is boss and my fighting has class

And I'ma give true love's first kiss on the a-"

"Shut. Up." Riku finally shouted, about to pull his own hair out as he rounded on the prince. Phil-izzle, now frowning, nodded gloomily as he looked at the floor. "Which way from here?" Riku asked as they came to a split in the castle.

"_To the left_." Phil-izzle sang. Suddenly, everyone turned to look at him. "_To the left, to the left, everything you own in a box to the left._ _In the closet, that's my stuff. Yes, if I bought it, nigga, please don't touch._" Phil-izzle continued to sing, but the three of them just turned around after Sora shook his head confused, and went to the right. **Author's Note: I've got a real sick sense of humor.**

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

About two hundred Neoshadows had been destroyed in the past hour, twenty Crimson Jazzes had been destroyed (much to everyone's dismay, they reminded them much too much of the Rhapsodies), and twelve Surveillance Robots before it seemed that Radiant Garden was completely safe.

The eight of them, finally finished, fell down in front of the castle at the rising falls, watching the waterfalls go upward and sighing to themselves. And that had just been temporary, even though Naminé and Roxas had already found the keyhole inside of the Radiant Garden castle and locked the world up.

"They were after the opal, weren't they?" Coy asked and Umeko nodded her head.

"They won't find it," Vice assured them, "only me and one other person knows where it is."

"Why don't you tell us?" Naminé asked.

"Because they could force the information out of anyone. It was dangerous to tell that one other person. If I know, they can't force it out of me." Vice smiled proudly for a moment, "I'm very strong, in case you haven't noticed."

"Your heart."

There was silence for a moment as the six others looked over at Cora, Vice specifically, with their mouths slightly open. Of course, it was Coy who was the one to break the silence by asking, "What do you mean?"

"Oki knows where the opal is," Cora continued, "because Thomas told me back when I had fake memories. Now Vice has Oki to worry about because she's got my discarded memories and she knows where the opal is, and it's in Thomas's heart."

"How did you know that?" Vice asked.

"I had another dream," Cora told them, "The Radiant Garden... Hollow Bastion... was in ruins again. Vaughn, Keir and Dallas were ganging up on the Jewel Alliance. Umeko and I weren't anywhere to be seen, or Sora and the others, or Naminé or Roxas. But then the scene changed and I was in the castle, and Xemnas was sitting on the throne..." Cora's voice began shaking, and a couple of shadows had appeared behind Cora, but only Umeko seemed to notice. Thomas put his hands on her shoulders, and before Umeko could swipe Starseeker at the Shadows, they had disappeared.

"Cora... _Cora_," he said, and the girl brought her golden brown eyes up to his bright green ones, "it's okay. We'll go to King Mickey. He'll know what to do. Anything else happen in your dream?" he asked her carefully. He was so... kind. Kind in a way that he hadn't quite been to her before, even back when she had willingly chosen the darkness.

"No," Cora said, her voice still shaking.

"Naminé, Roxas, can you take care of the castle while we're gone?" Umeko asked them, getting the idea as everyone stood up.

Naminé nodded, "Of course," she smiled.

* * *

**Aurora's Castle**

"For the last time," Sora growled at Phil-izzle, "my name is _Sora_. So-ra. Not homeslice, not home biscuit, not 'ma man' and _definitely_ not sugarplum!" he shouted at the man, who didn't so much as recoil.

"But I like sugarplum," Phil-izzle pouted.

Sora, Riku and Kairi decided that maybe if they stopped acknowledging him he would completely go away. It seemed that after a while, they finally managed to make it up to the room where they found Princess Aurora sleeping soundly in her glass case. **Author's Note: You know, the glass case may have been Snow White. I don't know, they really shouldn't have repeated concepts. Dx**

"Just kiss her," Sora waved him off, but looked around the room, "where's the keyhole?" Sora asked, now distressed, and Kairi called them all over to a certain area where the blinds were covering. From the bricks, which were originally laid horizontally, was a shape of a keyhole laid vertically. "Thank God," Sora vocalized as Ultima pulled itself up and shot at the keyhole, the reassuring 'click' closing the world off from the darkness.

"Phil...izzle?" Aurora asked, her face screwing itself up in concentration.

"Ya dig?" Phil-izzle asked Aurora, but she shook her head and threw herself back on the comfortable mattress she had been lying on.

"I'm going back to bed." Aurora said, flipping over at her side. For a few moments there was silence as Phil-izzle brought his face back to the back of Aurora's head, before he, quite loudly, shouted out.

"OH LORD!" he cried, and Aurora screamed, jumping back up, "Girl I got the right tactics to turn you on, ANDGIRLI, wanna be the papa, you can be the mom, uh-oh!" Before Phil-izzle could rationalize what was happening, Aurora slapped him in the face, pulled herself out of the bed, mumbled something along the lines of 'true love is a lie' and walked out of the room. All the while, Sora, RIku and Kairi watched Phil-izzle, completely unfazed by Aurora's actions, continue to sing Sean Paul's Temperature.

"We'll just be going now," Kairi sighed, leaving the room. Riku and Sora followed, thankful to see that Phil-izzle did not. Even on the brighter side, the Heartless had completely gone away. As the three of them reached the foyer, just the three fairies they wanted to see were flittering inside of it, accompanied by an angry Aurora.

"Aurora's been waken up by true love's first kiss!" Flora, the pink one cooed.

"Sort of." Aurora said too fast and too sharply, sending the three fairies backwards.

"Flora, Fauna, Merryweather," Sora started, "we sealed the keyhole here, and Maleficent is... at large again. We were hoping that you knew something about her strategies." Sora looked to the three hopefully, but they all shook their heads.

"No..." Fauna said, shaking her head, "I'm afraid not."

"But we can give you a _gift_," Flora stated, and pulled out a small wand. A little burst of light shot at Sora and hit him in the stomach. "Henceforth, you will be able to feel it in your bones whenever Maleficent is approaching."

"I feel that already," Sora frowned.

* * *

**Disney Castle**

The six of them sat in the library as Cora told her dream as well as she could remember it, leaving out of course her last bit of dialogue at the end of it; for all she knew, that could have been a side effect of not eating enough and it wasn't actually part of the dream. "Doesn't this mean that they'll have gotten your ruby?" Cora asked.

"And the sapphire, emerald and amber," Stash added.

"Not necessarily," King Mickey said, and everyone was silent. His look was serious, "Cora, somethin' tells me that this isn't the future that these dreams are givin' ya. I'm thinkin' that whoever's givin' you these dreams is trying to psyche you out. They know that you're an important member of the team, and you've got that unique ability to create hearts."

"So you don't think that Radiant Garden will end up in ruins?" Cora asked hopefully.

"Anything's possible, Cora, but if Vice has the opal hidden, then we're probably safe. Plus, we've got Oki all tied up and safe here, so she won't be tellin' a soul where the opal is."

"Wait." Cora said, and everyone's attention turned towards her, "If someone is feeding me these dreams and it had the answer to where the opal was in them, it means that they already know where the opal is."

"That means..." King Mickey started, and he shot out of his chair, running out of the library and down the hallway. Jocasta, Stash, Vice, Coy, Umeko and Cora all followed him into a small room that Mickey entered without knocking. There were slashed ropes on the ground and Donald and Goofy lay comatose with Oki on the floor.

"They've got my memories," Cora mumbled.

"Not just that..." King Mickey began worriedly as he walked up to Goofy. He took one of the pouches off of Goofy's belt, a very expensive looking one, and put his white gloved hand through it, which came up empty, "they've got the Ruby, too."

**Author's Note: I am truly sorry if I just ruined Sleeping Beauty for all of you. xD On the bright side, it was about time we got quite a bit of comic relief. So I'll see you in the next chapter, and don't forget to review!**


	8. You Shine Brighter than Anyone Does

**Author's Note: As a warning, this chapter may be a little scattered, but I've got some pretty awesome ideas for it. Thank you to my reviewers for sticking with me with this story, I realize how boring it is. xD I think I'll have either Dallas, Vaughn or Keir appear in this chapter, so I'm excited. Please r and r!**

* * *

_**Chapter VIII:**_

_You Shine Brighter than Anyone Does_

**Umeko's Gummi Ship**

"Cora, it's alright," Stash tried to soothe his new friend who was shaking in her seat in the Gummi Ship. Umeko and Coy were, as usual, taking over the weapons and control of the Gummi Ship, and everyone else was tense. Everyone except Stash, that is. "King Mickey said that it's not a prediction of the future or anything. Someone's giving you the dreams, so you don't have a thing to worry about."

"And he's right about that," Jocasta nodded, "because they already knew where the opal was and said so in your dreams. I'm willing to bet it's Maleficent."

"You're willing to bet now?" Stash asked, suddenly excited and pulling out a pack of cards. Without even missing a beat or taking her eyes off of Cora, who was still staring at her feet, she hit him upside the head. With a quick "Ow!" he turned back around and crossed his arms stubbornly.

"I'ts not the dreams that worry me," Cora finally admitted, "Maleficent, Xemnas, Vaughn, Keir and Dallas were able to extract my memories out of Oki. It was probably through Maleficent's magic, but anyway... what else do they know?"

"I guess that depends on what else Vice told them," Umeko called back from the cockpit, not before swerving the Gummi Ship to a sharp left to avoid a Heartless ship's missle. Everyone's eyes turned towards Vice who was stretched out along one of the couches that they sat on, his eyes closed, but listening.

Vice opened one eye, closed it again and shrugged, "I told her quite a bit," he mused lazily, but everyone else, especially Cora, became suddenly worried. "What?" Vice asked, "She was on my side at the time."

"Not by choice!" Cora said, her nails digging into the inside of her palms.

Vice opened one eye, though it was still relaxed, and responded, "With or without Naminé you would have ended up getting yourself sucked into the darkness anyway. I can feel it." There was silence before he continued, "Your heart is still so deep down in the darkness I'm surprised you have what it takes to survive in the light realm."

"I learned from the best," responded Cora.

Vice, never missing a beat, said, "The fact that you know you did would have brought you back to me, darkness or not." He pushed himself up into a sitting position, smiling triumphantly at his former apprentice.

"What gives you the right to turn my insult back on me?" Cora asked with no real heat.

"Whatever it was that gave you the right to insult me in the first place," Vice replied.

"So you acknowledge that my insult affected you?"

"I acknowledge that your pathetic attempt at an insult was, in fact, a pathetic attempt at an insult," answered Vice.

"Really, you would rate my insults as pathetic attempts? That's actually pretty kind of you."

"I'm feeling kind today," Vice grinned, laying his head back and breathing in deeply.

"Bracket slash battle of wits bracket," Umeko called back from the cockpit, "I can practically taste the bad vibes flowing in this Gummi Ship. It's only a year old, let's not stain it." Even Cora managed to laugh at that.

"I knew you'd listen to her," Vice began, "she is your best friend, after all."

"Maybe you know way too much about me," Cora stated.

"Maybe that's not all I know about you."

"Does this always happen?" Stash whispered to Jocasta.

Jocasta nodded, "I think so."

"Is that so?" Cora asked, crossing the Gummi ship and putting her hands on her hips, bending over slightly so her eyes would meet Vice's, as his head was still reclined over the edge of the couch.

"Sure," Vice said quietly, "for instance, I know that you're madly in love with me," he smiled at her.

Cora could practically feel the hot blood rising in her cheeks before she screwed her face up in an attempt to create any expression _except_ shock, which turned out to be an odd blend of anger and constipation. "Liar," she murmured and sat down next to him, crossing her arms. Vice looked over at her and chuckled for a moment, amused. Maybe the battle of wits was, finally, quoting Umeko, "bracket slash bracket".

"Where do we want to turn here?" Umeko asked nicely now, probably happy that the arguing was over.

"It's already getting late, so we should go back to Radiant Garden. But tomorrow, we should go get the jewels," Vice responded, "Stash was right. At least that way, they'd have to go through us first to get the jewel. Seems like they didn't have a problem getting through Goofy, though..." he murmured.

"King Mickey shouldn't have given Goofy the ruby of Disney Castle," Cora said, "in Goofy's defense, that was a pretty stupid move." She then called out to the cockpit, "They could be anywhere. Why don't we split up?"

"Okay," Jocasta nodded, "but I'm going to Pearl Falls."

"Coy and I'll go with you," Umeko called to her. Coy must have been giving her an odd look because she said, "What? I liked that world."

"And I... _fit in_ at Amber Heights, so I guess that leaves Vice and I to go with Stash," Cora nodded. Why was she always stuck with two egomaniac boys when the group was split up into different groups?

"I'll drop you guys off first," Umeko called. "But for tonight, back to Radiant Garden."

* * *

**Song's Shimmer**

"Seems like it's been forever since we've been here," Kairi sighed, stretching her arm behind her back. The air was so clear, it seemed like it hadn't changed a bit since they went there to discover Blaise, Kasa and Dolan fighting a giant Rhapsody. In fact, they were in the exact area, right by the swings at Staccato Park.

"Sora! Riku! Kairi!" a familiar girl's voice called. Kasa ran up to them, One Empty Sleep held close to herself. She hadn't changed much, except she had grown her hair out and was a bit taller. Her hair was no longer held in pigtails, but down and curly at the ends with thick bangs. She was also almost as tall as Kairi now, which was expected as she was supposed to be eighteen that year.

"Kasa, it's great to see you!" Kairi said, hugging the girl. The two of them and Roxas had been so close during the last journey because they had been thrusted together for every separate journey they made.

"Kairi," she smiled, and as they pulled away, she continued, "Dolan and Axel are on their way, I just phoned them. Heartless are _everywhere_. Dolan and I aren't used to fighting them; it was mostly Rhapsodies last year."

"Don't worry, Kasa," Riku told her, "they're not as bad as the Rhapsodies. But I figured that they'd be here."

"Face it," Sora laughed, "you missed Kasa, Dolan and Axel."

"Well, so did you," Riku remarked.

"Kasa!" two voices called. A tall man with bright red hair wearing a crimson t-shirt and faded jeans was running alongside a boy of equal height with straight purple hair that half covered his face and dark clothing. As Axel and Dolan reached Kasa, Axel kissed her on the cheek and greeted the others.

"Ooh, Kasa! You and Axel?" Kairi asked.

Kasa nodded, blushing, "Shortly after we beat Thomas. How's he doing?"

"He goes by Vice these days," Sora answered, "and that's not all that we have to tell you. First, let's go seal the keyhole."

Soon after Destiny Blade, Way to Dawn, Ultima, One Nightmare and Axel's fire chakrams appeared, Riku walked up to Dolan, his mouth opening slightly. Dolan was taller than him. "Have you grown?" he asked the boy.

Dolan smirked, "More ways than one, Riku."

"Where's the keyhole here?" Kairi asked, suddenly realizing that the last time they were there, they needed only to exterminate the Rhapsodies; they never even sealed the keyhole in the first place.

"I actually don't know," Kasa said, after a minute of silence.

"Guess we'll find out," Sora said, moving forward, "so, it all started when Cora woke up a little less than a week ago. We didn't want to worry you guys about it until we knew what was going on, but she'd had a dream about Xemnas..."

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

"Prince Vice!" a voice called shortly after the Gummi Ship touched down. It took a moment for the group of six's eyes to adjust, but running up to them was a short woman with black hair tied behind her back wielding a giant Shuriken- the slightly klepto Yuffie. Behind her were two others- one was the blond Cloud carrying Ragnarok **Author's Note: I just picked one of his possible swords in Final Fantasy VII**, and Squall carried Lionheart.

"Cloud," Cora called out happily, her bad mood suddenly gone as she gave her childhood friend a welcoming hug, "And Leon," she stated, looking at him, "you both got upgrades on your weapons?"

Cloud grinned, looking straight at her, "Looks like we've both grown if we're the same height again. And yeah, it was about time. Speaking of," he took a look at Smoke on the Water. It was a very interesting keyblade, but the statistics weren't all that amazing, "looks like you could use a new keychain. Here."

Cloud dug through his pocket and pulled out two keychains. One of them, he handed to Cora. It had a small crescent moon at the end of it that seemed to glimmer in the small amount of light left in the sky. It almost looked exactly like the Star Seeker keychain, except a small purple star was in the middle of the moon. **Author's Note: I realize I've been calling it Starseeker for the longest time instead of Star Seeker. I'm sorry. Dx On the bright side, Starseeker looks a lot cooler.** "That one's called Ether Essence. It'll raise your MP and it's got a high attack." He then turned to Umeko and handed her the other one. "That's Shark Attack. It's attack power is great and it helps with water resistance in case you have to fight Dolan."

It made sense why it would be called Shark Attack- that keychain was a shark tooth. "Thanks," Umeko beamed, "but what's the occasion?"

"The occasion," Yuffie started, "is that there are a _lot_ of Heartless and we need all the power we can get! Quickly, put them on."

The two of them simultaneously pulled off their other keychains, put them in their pockets, and put on Ether Essence and Shark Attack.** Author's Note: I drew both of these. They look so cool. Just wait.**

Ether Essence was a long reach, beautiful keyblade. The main shaft and one tooth of the keyblade were indigo, and the other two teeth were blue and pink, the same blue and pink that spiraled down the shaft of the key to create the two parts of the hand guard. By the handle was one set of feathered wings, slightly bigger than the smaller set by the teeth. At the end of the first tooth, that extended to the other side of the keyblade, was a small crescent moon.

Shark attack definitely looked lethal. The three inner teeth were sharp and pointed, gray like the shaft of the keyblade, and the two outer keys were facing inward and green with one small spike on either one. The inner three teeth were connected by a joining blue piece of metal. Going down the gray shaft were four green spikes, which also resembled the handgaurd, and blue waves running downward like a waterfall.

"Well, don't just stand there gawking!" Yuffie pushed, "Come on, the Heartless are attacking the town!"

"Right," Umeko responded, and the sixth of them moved forward, though Jocasta huffed.

"I wish I got a keychain," she muttered.

"You're not a keyblade wielder!" Stash exclaimed, now running with the rest of them.

Suddenly, all of them stopped in front of a figure that seemed to be moving rapidly under a red cloak, Heartless disappearing wherever he stepped foot. When all of them around Merlin's house seemed to disappear, he stood up straight and very human. He had long and unruly black hair barely held back with red material seemingly the same as his cloak which brought out bright, red eyes. The clothes under his cloak were belted and black, and he was carrying a large gun. He eyed everyone behind Yuffie, Leon and Cloud warily before moving his eyes back towards Yuffie.

"Who's that?" Cora whispered to Cloud.

"Vincent Valentine," Cloud replied, "his powers were due to the experiment of Hojo, the same man who experimented on Sephiroth before he was born."

"So Hojo's Sephiroth's father?" Cora asked.

"You got it," Cloud replied, "they worked together."

"I can hear you, Cloud," the man replied lowly and slowly to him. Cloud smiled only slightly apologetically before running a hand through his own hair.

"You came to help?" Leon asked, resting Lionheart on his right shoulder.

Vincent suddenly looked up at the sky and responded, "I thought I saw somebody. Lucretia..." His voice seemed to fade on its own as he got lost in his thoughts before he spoke a little louder in an attempt to come out as sane, "It was just a Heartless."

"Now that I have you all here," came a voice from on top of a rooftop. Everyone glanced over to find none other than Keir in all of his grace, walking the top edge of the roof like a tightrope. His reddish golden hair was only blown slightly by the fierce, storm quality wind. He must have been amazing at avoiding bad luck. "It should be much, much easier to just exterminate you all. Like bugs, easiest in a group."

"And you would know all about bugs, wouldn't you, Keir, you annoying _insect_," Umeko hissed at the boy.

"Or maybe," he suggested, "I'll get rid of you, first." Jumping down, the boy landed right in front of Umeko, his violent eyes glinting madness. The inevitable barrier appeared between the two of them and the rest, as a bunch of Heartless and quite a few Nobodies arrived outside of the barrier in an attempt to slow down the rest of them before Keir got to them.

"Big mistake," Umeko growled, pointing her new Shark Attack at the boy. She thought faintly how much more it would come in handy if she were fighting Dallas, the one who excelled in water magic.

"Like you, maggot?" Keir asked, laughing. In a flash of light that Umeko would have missed if she blinked, Power Shock appeared and clashed with Shark Attack. In a parry of lightning-fast moves, they blocked and attacked, blocked and attacked. "Your strong, Umeko, in the heart, too."

"How would you know how strong I am in the heart?" Umeko asked condescendingly. She knew way too well that she couldn't let her enemy mentally get to her in a battle- she had too many experiences with Cora for that. Hell, Blaise had died because of that.

"I'm trained by _Maleficent_, Umeko," he replied.

"And that makes you an _amazing_ judge of character, I'm sure," Umeko sneered as she finally managed to cut Keir's upper arm, but he knocked her keyblade away and tried to stab her in the side, but Umeko avoided it.

"You still think the only reason you can wield a keyblade is because Cora rubbed off on you, don't you?" Keir laughed, and Umeko lowered her weapon for a moment. "Haven't you noticed it by now? Keyblade wielders come in threes. Sienna could pull out Nobodies, Cora can create hearts... you still haven't figured out what you can do yet, have you? It's because of _Cora_. She's slowing you down. Taking all of the limelight when you work just as hard as she does. Are you sure you're not jealous of Cora?"

Umeko raised her weapon again threateningly at Keir, "I could never be _jealous_ of Cora. What do you mean, I have a special ability?"

"That's right, you haven't gone through your Awakening yet, have you?" Keir laughed and swiped with Power Shock, knocking the heavy Shark Attack to the side, and then stabbed Umeko in her left hip, although the injury was pretty shallow. He ran up to attack her more with Power Shock, "It looks like you'll never know."

* * *

**Song's Shimmer**

"I'm tired," Dolan complained as they exterminated the last Heartless in sight, "I'm hungry, and we've destroyed so many Heartless by now that even if we find the keyhole, the town is safe. Too safe." He rested his arm on Riku's shoulder as if to make fun of how much taller than him he had grown in the past year.

"I can't even think of where else to go," Kairi sighed.

"There's one place we haven't checked yet," Kasa reminded them all. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Axel and Dolan all looked Kasa's way. She was still looking at her feet and gulped nervously before she told them all, "the graveyard."

"Figures," Axel sighed, "well, let's go."

It was Dolan who directed them towards the graveyard as his house was the closest. **Author's Note: No wonder he's so creepy. That's okay, we all love Dolan. xD.** The air as they entered the graveyard was unexplainably creepy, but it helped that it was dusk and extremely windy outside.

"The graveyard," Sora began, "somehow a letdown after Halloweentown."

"Weird," Riku voiced, "I figured that, of all places, the Heartless would be here." The graves were all lined up like a service line, names and dates that none of them recognized until finally, they came to one.

"Blaise," Kasa said as they reached the gravestone, "Blaise Dome, 1992-2008. Sometimes it takes a lot of guts for me to look at this," Kasa murmured, running one hand down the gravestone as Dolan put a hand on her shoulder. Suddenly, both of them recoiled as a small outline of a keyhole appeared on the gravestone.

"How typical," Axel laughed something like relief. Kasa's keyblade shot up and the keyhole clicked shut and sighed.

"Guess you guys didn't need to come over here after all," she said apologetically.

"Nah, it was fun to see you, anyway," Kairi giggled. "And Blaise."

For a few moments, the six of them stood in silence, remembering Blaise.

* * *

**? ? ?**

The last thing Umeko could remember was being knocked cold by Keir. Try as she might to open her eyes, it seemed everything around her was still black. In fact, everything around her _was_ black. "Am I in the darkness?" she asked herself worriedly, though no sound came out. Standing up, she realized she could still walk, and took a step forward.

The shadow underneath her began to _move_, revealing a shred of light from a platform. Soon, all of the darkness in a circular platform beneath her shot upwards, flying away and into the black oblivion in the form of doves. Umeko had barely enough time to admire the beautiful scene as she saw the platform she was on.

In an art so realistic, she found herself sitting at the edge of a cliff that looked like Sunset Summit at Eventide Mountains, staring up at the dusk sky. Umeko sighed; as much as she thought Pearl Falls was beautiful, she had taken such a liking to Coy's home world. The brown haired boy was even standing by her in the platform. She got an odd sense of comfort from this.

_Now that your talent has finally been brought to your attention, it's time to recognize it._

Umeko's head snapped to the right, and then the left. A mysterious disembodied voice- not quite what she had expected. Then again, she didn't expect to be caught in the middle of a glowing platform that, for some reason, had her face.

_Wielder of Light, you do have untapped darkness within your heart._

"Wielder of Light?" Umeko asked confusedly, although she could not hear herself, "But before Thomas, Cora was a Princess of Light. How am I chosen by the light realm?"

_Cora was always destined to fall into the darkness, as was Thomas destined to lead her there. The Realms know this, Umeko,_ the voice paused, _just as Sienna was destined to fall into the Realm of Nothingness._

"Destiny," Umeko whispered, and tried to call upon Shark Attack, though nothing appeared, "I have no destiny. I hate to admit it, but Keir was right. This has all been about Cora, after all," she murmured.

_And yet, you will be the one to bring the three doomed Wielders to the light._

"The... three doomed wielders?" _Does he mean Keir, Vaughn and Dallas_? Umeko thought.

_Fight well_, came the disembodied voice, but not before tens of Shadows appeared on the platform surrounding her. Try as she might, Umeko could not call upon Shark Attack. She began to panic as the Shadows closed in on her.

"How can I fight them without my keyblade?" Umeko cried out to the voice, worried now as she guarded herself with her arms, the only form of defense she had without Shark Attack.

_You must unlock the darkness in your heart_.

"No," Umeko said, "I can't do that. I've seen it happen. I'll fall into the darkness!" She had witnessed Cora, Riku and countless who have gotten their hearts stolen fall into the darkness; no way would she want to live with that.

_It is part of your ability. You don't have enough darkness to fall to it_.

Umeko guarded herself more as the Heartless came closer to her, almost touching her.

_Your light will always be your guide out of the darkness, Umeko_.

Having no other choice, Umeko cleared her head and trusted in herself. As if searching through a box of memories that she barely remembered were there, she found a small hint of darkness in her own heart. Trusting in it for a moment, she felt a transformation take place. Finally gaining the courage to open her eyes, Umeko looked down at her hands, which were pointed and pitch-black.

All of her clothing had turned back with her, and she could see through the darkness in front of her as if it were broad daylight. Without a keyblade, she swiped at the Heartless around her, destroying them almost as fast as they had appeared. "What happened?" she asked, "Am I a Heartless?"

_This is but your anti-form. Under any other conditino, magical clothing or losing onesself to the darkness would be required, but your anti-form is a part of you. Call upon it as you wish, but remember..._ Suddenly, a door appeared it front of her, and before she could reach out to it, the door opened itself, its light shining brighter than anything she had ever seen before. _Never lose sight of your light_.

"My light?" Umeko asked before she walked through the door, but received no answer.

Expecting to find herself back at the field, as she was ready to fight Keir, she instead found herself on yet another platform, one that made her do a double take and shoot backwards a moment. Vaughn was on the left of the three boys, his background surrounded by red roses and cherry blossoms. In the middle was Keir, backed up by what looked like a thousand volts of lightning. To the right of them, taller than the rest, was Dalls, a rushing wave behind him.

"The three doomed wielders," Umeko mumbled, "so that's why Maleficent chose them."

_You have witnessed it. There is a definite strength in the darkness,_ the voice sounded, _stronger than any keyblade. Can you save your light?_ In the middle of the platform (directly over Keir's face) a small cage appeared that made Umeko rush towards it. Standing inside of the cage were translucent images of Cora, Coy and herself, herself with her normal body. Try as she might, she could not open the cage.

As Umeko turned around, she glanced at the platform below her, which was black with Shadow and Knight Heartless. In one fell charge and a few swipes of her clawed hands, they were all _gone_, and the cage door opened. "Cool..." she muttered, and then ran back twoards the cage and reached out towards Coy.

Light drowned out all scenery around her.

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

Umeko forced her eyes open, only to see a face she barely recognized hovering over her. Long, black hair and a red cloak... he only looked slightly familiar. Right- it was Vincent Valentine. "She's awake," Vincent muttered and looked behind him. Umeko pushed herself up and blinked- everyone started to crowd around her.

"You okay?" Cora asked her, her eyebrows furrowing together.

Umeko nodded. "Everything was black. And there were platforms. And you and Coy were in a cage..." Umeko groaned, and then looked at her hand. "And..."

"You were knocked out by Keir," Vice said, "and the barrier broke. He got away, though, Vincent was too much for him."

"I could..." Umeko pushed herself up. Was it all really a dream? Closing her eyes again as she stood, she tried to grab for that small bit of darkness in her heart. She heard gasps around her and opened her eyes, looking down at her hand. Black as night, and lethal-looking. "I knew it," she said, and turned herself back, "I have a lot to tell you guys."

**Author's Note: Now, THAT was fun to write. I hope you liked it, and I'm glad that Umeko's finally going to get the attention she deserves. I was thinking the whole time as I was writing her awakening how much I would love to play those scenes. Dx' Please review!**


	9. I Know What's Best For Me

**Author's Note: This chapter might be pretty short, but I've got an interesting surprise or two ahead. Aside from that, I'm sorry, this chapter might not be that eventful and a little rushed. I promise the next one will be better. Please review!**

* * *

_**Chapter IX:**_

_I Know What's Best For Me_

_But I Want You Instead_

**Radiant Garden**

Cora laid on Vice's bed, listening to his steady breathing on the floor next to it. Listening to the last remaining Heartless in the world making a racket outside. Listening to her own thoughts and the weird bird noises she heard when she tilted her head. Anything to keep her from falling asleep and dreaming again... She couldn't go through with that again.

"Hey," a voice came, shocking her out of her thoughts. Frantic, Cora twisted around, and saw Vice sitting cross-legged on the bed. She wanted to yell at him to get off and let her sleep, but she couldn't help but to remember that it was _his_ castle, _his_ room, _his_ bed.

"Hey," Cora mumbled back, pulling herself back up to a similar position. She could have sworn that he was sleeping a second ago, "Why are you awake?"

Vice shrugged, obviously too tired for another battle of wits, "Before lately, my schedule was sleep when tired. More often than not I found myself awake during the night. The real question is why aren't you sleeping?"

Cora scowled, "Well, maybe if you didn't scare me half to death I would be."

"You were lying awake," he pointed out bluntly, his eyes following something invisible behind her head. "Vertigo..." he murmured, but shook it off quickly and looked at Cora, awaiting her response.

"I'm afraid to fall asleep," she finally admitted after a moment of silence.

More silence passed before Vice finally said, "The nightmares?"

"No," Cora responded, "what happens after the nightmares."

Vice gave her a look he had never given her before- a quizzical one. "How do you mean."

"You haven't noticed it?" Cora asked, "Every single time I have another one of these nightmares, the Heartless multiply," her voice began to shake and her hand drifted up to the locket that Vice had given her, gripping the small heart like it was her last anchor to that world, "Thomas, I think it's _me_ that's bringing out the Heartless!" She turned her head away so he wouldn't see the frantic tears welling up in her eyes.

Vice was silent for a moment, "You called me Thomas."

Cora's eyes widened momentarily, and she brought her left arm up to wipe away the tears that were now trailing down her face, but said nothing more about that. "What if that's why Maleficent or Xemnas, or whoever's doing it, is giving me these dreams? To call out more Heartless?"

"That sounds logical," Vice pointed out, "and that's probably it."

"What do I do?" Cora asked, turning back towards him. This was so _unlike_ her, actually looking towards someone else for help. She hadn't quite done that since she was fourteen years old and looking for something to strengthen her heart. Oddly enough, that led her straight to Thomas as well. "Not sleep?" she asked.

Vice shook his head, and brought an arm out to push down on her shoulder slightly. She then lay backwards on the bed, and Vice brought his covers up to meet her chin, "You're lucky I decided to stay in the light," he remarked, "or I probably wouldn't be doing this right now." After a low chuckle, he put his hand to her face and stroked her cheek for a moment. "Sleep." It seemed that Cora fell straight into an empty sleep.

* * *

**The Next Morning**

"No nightmares I take it?" Umeko chirped, who had been consistently changing herself into her anti-form, just to see what parts of it she could change without changing the rest of her body. So far, she had been able to change her hands and feet with no problem, but anything past that would change the rest of her.

"None," Cora replied, calling upon Ether Essence and practicing with it a few times. Cora, Umeko, Vice and Coy were all waiting by Umeko's Gummi Ship for Jocasta and Stash, who seemed to be taking their sweet time.

"You really think it was Maleficent?" Coy asked, "And she was doing it to cause you to call on Heartless?"

Cora nodded. "We all know she couldn't summon that many Heartless. You'd need help for that. And according to Vice," she twisted her head to look at the man, still lounging against the Gummi Ship with his eyes closed, "my heart's still mostly in the darkness."

"Just don't get swallowed," Umeko warned her, and suddenly the other three glanced over at her. "I told you, that was the advice that the disembodied voice gave me in that dream I had. Before I learned to do this," she changed her hand back into that of her anti-form's- clawed and dangerous. They just continued to stare at her. "What?"

"You know what I just realized?" Cora asked, and everyone waited for her to answer her own question, "Outside of Heartless, other worlds, keyblades, etcetera, what in all of hell would we have to talk about?"

"Dogs?" Coy suggested.

"I like Siberian Huskies," Vice mused, "and Samoyeds."

"I love Samoyeds," Cora said, sighing.

"I like... well, I love... bah. I love all dogs." Umeko sighed.

"I have seven!" Coy chirped, and then everyone began laughing.

"I know, Coy," Umeko said, resting her head on his shoulder, "I have to walk them every day, don't I?"

Coy laughed and kissed her on the top of her head.

"Where are Stash and Jocasta?" Vice asked boredly, "We've got to get moving if we want to get the jewels _today_."

"I'll go look," Cora sighed and walked towards the doors of the Radiant Garden castle, past the Rising Falls. As she walked inside, the first thing she took note of was consistent yelling of two voices, which belonged to Jocasta and Stash. The next thing she noticed was the two of them, arguing at the foot of the stairs."

"You're a persistent freak!" Stash shouted at her.

"You're a stiff, gambling fuck!" Jocasta retorted.

"You make babies cry!"

"Coming from someone who kills babies by merely being in their _presence_!" Jocasta was good at this.

"Arrogant water sucker!"

"Airheaded glider!"

"You make me want to rip my own hair out!"

"Ditto, asshole!" And at that moment, Jocasta pulled Stash closer to her by the collar of his shirt and began making out with him. Ever since, Cora could not quite rationalize what was happening, but she stood there dumbly with her mouth open wide, watching the two of them practically suck each other's faces off and feel each other up.

Without a sound, Cora walked outside, her eyes wide and confused. Her face was probably red, too, but if it was, she didn't notice.

"Well?" Vice asked as she made it to the Gummi Ship.

"They were having a fight," Cora mumbled, "they'll be out in a minute."

* * *

**Sora's Gummi Ship**

"Where are we going today?" Kairi asked nobody in particular as she traveled into the cockpit, her eyes trailing from the radar to the space road in front of them, then back to the radar and back to the road. There wasn't much else to do when you were in a Gummi Ship with so few people.

"Sleeping Plains," Sora responded.

"Why there?" Kairi asked, "I've never even heard of that place."

"King Mickey managed to get a lead on where Maleficent, Xemnas, and the three others are. Apparently, the ruby from Disney Castle was stolen, but they left behind a blade of grass that biologically matched the grass found only in Sleeping Plains. The King called the other day and asked us if we could go there."

"Maleficent and Xemnas are there?" Kairi asked, her voice a little shaky, "I don't know if I'm very comfortable with that."

"We've gotta get it done somehow," Sora said, narrowly avoiding more enemy missles as Riku shot down at least seven Heartless ships at once, "Do these things live in space or do they ever land anywhere?" Sora asked angrily.

"That's it," Riku said, pointing out in front of them. The world looked relatively plain, but somewhat golden.

"Why's it golden?" Kairi asked.

"Dying grass, probably," Riku mused aloud.

"Things die wherever Maleficent walks. It's a proven fact," Sora joked, and the other two laughed, "Alright, prepare for landing."

* * *

**Amber Heights**

"What happened here?" Cora whispered the moment they set foot on the world and Umeko's Gummi Ship lifted back up into the sky. The village below them was charred and destroyed, like the entire town had been set on fire. If any people used to survive in that world, they were no longer among the living.

Stash, serious for seemingly the first time in his life, pushed past Vice and Cora and looked upon his land. "No..." he whispered, and rushed forward, his sun staff clenched tightly in hand, towards his castle. Vice and Cora followed, having nothing else to do. Eventually, they made it to the the castle. In front of it, hundreds of bodies lay slaughtered, their weapons all hanging limply in their hands.

"The army?" Vice asked, and Stash nodded.

"I haven't seen a villager here at all, now that I think about it," Cora said, shivering. The beautiful world was now eerie to her, even though the world itself had never even changed. Why was everyone gone?

"We have to get the amber stone first, and then we'll worry about that," Vice said, knocking Stash out of his trance. Stash nodded and pushed the door to the castle, but it wouldn't open. The two of them looked towards Cora, who lifted her keyblade and unlocked the door in a burst of light. They ran through.

The castle, usually booming with activity, was empty as well. They could hear the echoes of their feet hitting the tile as they rushed through the foyer and ran towards the throne room- Stash had hidden the amber stone in the throne, after all.

"_No_!" Stash breathed again as they stopped in the front of the throne room. None other than Keir was lounging in the throne, throwing the small amber stone, nothing more than the size of a pebble, up and down in his left hand. He barely acknowledged that Cora, Vice and Stash had entered the room.

"Keir, what have you done to everybody?" Stash boomed from in front of the three. Keir's face showed only amusement as he opened his eyes lazily and pushed himself to an upright sitting position.

"What's that thing that happens," he laughed, "when their anatomical hearts stop beating, their brains stop functioning and their blood stops running? Oh, right," he then glared at the three of them, daring them to move forward, but not before calling upon Power Shock, which was stained red with blood, "they _died_."

"You killed them!" Cora shouted.

"Mm, every last one. You're almost as bright as that little blonde friend of yours! Umeko, her name is? Couldn't even go through one battle without passing out," he laughed, and then his eyes dug holes in their own, "so weak."

"You're _sick_," Cora hissed at him, moving forward, but she felt Vice's strong hand on her arm, pulling her back.

"So _protected_, Cora," Keir laughed now, standing up in front of the throne, "the poor baby can't fight her own battles. Every second you spend in this pathetic realm," he looked around himself, "you grow weaker. Denying your place is lower even than following someone blindly because of a promise," he looked at Vice, "abandoning your throne for a futile attempt," he looked at Stash, "or killing a whole kingdom."

"I'm nowhere near as low as you you sadistic _rat_!" Cora cried, moving forward, and this time, Vice did not stop her. Her keyblade clashed with his, but she managed to knock it to the side and cut him on his hip, where Umeko had injured him before. Keir hissed and stabbed her in the leg, and soon keyblade clashed with keyblade once again.

"I wonder how Pearl Falls is doing," Stash thought aloud as he cast a Pearl spell at Keir, barely missing by an inch.

* * *

**Pearl Falls**

Any better, Pearl Falls wasn't. In fact, most of the water had been drained somehow, and all of the members out of sight as well. "This was Dallas's doing," Jocasta spoke aloud, "only the royal family knows how to drain the water, and that's in case of emergency. We have to go and get the sapphire," she cried.

"Where is it?" Coy asked. When Umeko thought about it, she realized that Jocasta had never quite told them where the sapphire was.

"Just follow me. If I say it out loud, someone might be listening," Jocasta breathed; they had been running through the empty trenches where water once flowed for the better part of ten minutes in an attempt to make it to the castle, and Jocasta didn't quite do too well on the land- water was her forte.

Finally, they made it to the castle. The doors were busted open and nobody was making a sound. "I can't believe he'd do this to his own people," Jocasta muttered, leading them to a sharp right the moment they entered the castle. She kicked a statue of a mermaid to the left and pressed down on a large, blue button that it was concealing, and the floor beneath them began to shift, revealing descending stairs.

"A basement?" Umeko asked, and Jocasta nodded, leading them downstairs.

"Just _getting_ there is a challenge. But Dallas and I knew everything about it..." The stairs seemed to descend for so long that the three of them could feel their ears pop- obviously they had made it much lower than sea level just in case a thief had tried to steal the jewel of the kingdom. That wouldn't do much good if the thief was her brother.

Soon, the stairs finally ended and they found themselves faced with a blue and white tiled corridor. "Don't step on the white tiles," she warned them, "it's an illusion. There are spikes beneath them."

Nervously, Umeko and Coy nodded, following her on only the blue tiles until they finally made it to the door, in which Umeko needed to unlock with her keyblade. "He's gotta be in there if it's locked," Coy stated as they walked through.

Dallas was in there; they had made it just in time, or maybe too late. He was just shoving the sapphire in his pocket, and didn't seem at all surprised to see Umeko, Coy and Jocasta pointing their weapons threateningly at him. "What's the matter?" he asked, "Everyone else in your group abandon you?"

"We split up, moron," Jocasta shouted, who would have none of his mind games. Without even thinking of a strategy or a reason to fight him when she could just take the ejwel, she ran up to him with her Water Sword and slashed at his shoulder, a deep gash appearing. In a quick Cura on his part, he healed his shoulder and summoned Poison Sea, not hesitating to stab her in the stomach. It wasn't long before Umeko and Coy joined in the fight.

"Can't take all three of us," Coy growled at him, but Dallas simply laughed.

"I've taken the whole army. You three are nothing. Blizarra!" And with that, he threw Coy and Umeko backwards, but got stabbed in the leg by Jocasta. "Dammit," he hissed and limped backwards, throwing out Curagas at himself, but to little effect. The wound was deep. "You're dead, Jocasta."

**Author's Note: Sorry this was so short, I just realized I have a lot of other stuff to do, but I wanted to get one more chapter up. Dx I promise the next one will be lots longer. I hope you liked it, please review!**


	10. You're a Lonely Soul

**Author's Note: Jeez, guys, I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get up. Yesterday, I went to Chicago to celebrate my birthday with Igor Lollipop and my family, and then today I had to go visit my grandma (I got my driver's license!), so I've been busy. Plus, I have to read ****The Flamingo Rising**** for school, which... isn't the best book I've ever read, but it takes up my time. I'll give you guys a decent length chapter this time! Please review!**

* * *

_**Chapter X:**_

_You're a Lonely Soul _

**Amber Heights**

"Not too quick, huh?" Keir asked Cora, Vice and Stash almost lazily as he avoided a Pearl attack from Stash. Just as he said this, Cora managed to knock him to the left with the flat end of Ether Essence's teeth.

"We know you're not," Cora replied, trying her best to sound as lazy as him but making it somewhat difficult. The fight had barely started but she was already tiring out- the truth was Keir _was_ fast- lightning fast- and very rarely did she, Vice or Stash get a good hit on him. She could tell, however, that Vice would rather be fighting Vaughn at that moment, because of Xemnas and Maleficent's 'extra three', Vaughn had pissed him off the most.

Keir, in one fluid movement, jumped off of the ground and onto the back of the throne, pointing Power Shock at them all, "Thundaga!" he cried, and shocks of thunder fell upon the three others, momentarily stunning them and doing quite a deal of damage. **Author's Note: I wonder why it's called thunder when it's lightning that hits them...**

As the three of them were stunned, he jumped back down and hit Vice with his keyblade, but made the mistake of being too close when Vice threw a Dark Chakram at Keir's side, sending him flying, tumbling on the ground. Just then, Stash pointed his Staff of Suns at Keir, which blinded him before he could get up, and another chakram collided with the keyblade wielder.

Just as Keir was knocked down again, Cora rushed forward with Ether Essence and dealt quite a few critical blows, but it wasn't long before Keir managed to collect himself, get up, and gain the advantage once again with his speed- again it became difficult for the other three to get a hit on him.

"Your precious amber," he breathed, finally seeming to tire, "is in my hands now. Even alone, this jewel has power... the power of speed, if you haven't noticed." Ether Essence almost collided with him, cutting his speech short, but in a blur that Cora, Vice and Stash couldn't see, he was at the other end of the room, "Too bad the prince could never utilize this power!" This time, he was laughing like a maniac, even though a Gravira from Cora finally managed to knock him down momentarily.

"I didn't ever need to!" Stash argued, rushing up to hit him with the bulk of the staff, though Keir narrowly avoided this and ended up at the other side of the room, smiling once again.

"Let's face it, _Prince_ Stash," he said, putting some sort of a demeaning emphasis on 'Prince', "What kind of prince that doesn't need this kind of power lets one man with one weapon kill their whole world off?"

"The kind that underestimated his opponent, obviously," Stash hissed, but flipped around and hit him in the gut with his Staff of Suns, sending Keir practically keeling over from pain, "And it doesn't look like I'm the only one who has a problem with underestimating his opponent. Vice, now!" he shouted.

Vice, getting the message, threw his chakrams both at a time. They crossed halfway through their trail, gaining power, and crossed once more to hit Keir on the sides and send him back to the ground. Cora and Stash, however, were close up enough to continue to hit him repeatedly with their weapons.

"_Damn it,_" Keir hissed, the first time that any of these three had actually seen him falter. When they thought about it, they had never before saw him overwhelmed in any way. They took advantage of this and continued to hit him continuously, hopeful to be able to stop him long enough simply to take the jewel away.

Then he got up.

* * *

**Pearl Falls**

The fight with Dallas, unfortunately, wasn't going much better. "Why are you doing this?" Jocasta cried at Dallas as he threw about ten Blizzagas at Umeko, Coy and herself, mostly blinding them.

"Simple," Dallas stated, limping from his injury, "Once we rule over these worlds, we can use our jewels to extract the darkness out of them. Only then will we find ultimate darkness- stronger even than Kingdom Hearts- and darkness is _power_," he laughed, "a power none of you can even begin to comprehend."

"Really?" Umeko asked, who had fought her way through the blizzard right next to him in her anti-form. She clawed at him, catching him by surprise, and sent him to the floor. Get the villain monologuing- the easiest way to distract them. It wasn't long before she managed to knock him against the wall, where Coy began to attack him with his daggers, making no more than scratches.

"Why won't they stab him?" Coy called over to Jocasta as if she had the answers.

"Defense," Jocasta shouted back to him, "the sapphire holds the power of a really strong defense. I'll bet he just started using it, too." She didn't seem at all fazed by this, however, as she refused to yield, slashing at him with her sword when the blizzagas subsided.

"Really strong? Understatement of the century," Dallas laughed. The one great thing about fighting Dallas was that he wasn't much of the talker when they did- what made Keir and Vaughn difficult to handle was that they killed their enemies _mentally_ before they even thought about really attacking them physically.

Poison Sea was a monster at fighting them. Rarely did Dallas yield to heal himself or prepare a full-blast attack, probably because he had such amazing defense. Still, it became instantly difficult to avoid the keyblade.

It seemed that finally, after about ten minutes of fighting and barely scratching Dallas, Umeko became perturbed and ran at him again, still in her anti-form, and ran up to him. Just as she grabbed his wrist to flip him around, everything suddenly became dark. For a moment, Umeko was stunned and turned around- the lights weren't out, but they were in the dark realm. "Shit..." Umeko murmured, fumbling with her thoughts.

"By all means, stay in your anti-form," Dallas suggested, "maybe you'll fall all the way into the darkness."

"This _is_ the Realm of Darkness," Umeko realized, turning back into her normal form and backing up a few paces, "I can't even tell which world we're in. I guess the name really fits..." She seemed more nervous than anything as far as how they got there, but she also knew it wasn't that big of a deal, as Sora had shared with her many instances of being caught in the Realm of Darkness.

"That's what happens when you stay in your anti-form for too long," Dallas told her.

"Then I'll just have to get rid of you here," Umeko snarled, rushing up to him with Shark Attack. She managed to slice him in the arm, and the cut went deep.

"How?!" Dallas cried, backing up a few paces. His arm was bleeding like nobody's business.

"Maybe the jewels belong in the light realm, ever think of that?" Umeko asked, not faltering. Finally, it seemed, Dallas had to use Poison Sea defensively. Poison Sea and Shark Attack worked almost in harmony, one barely hitting the other. When Umeko did hit him, however, it left a cut- a deep one.

"Light Realm," Dallas breathed, backing up. He was be scarred many times over, "I need the Light Realm..." This made sense, after all- if the jewels really did belong in the light, that would be the only time they would be useful. As if listening to his wishes, the scenery changed, and they found themselves back in the basement of the Pearl Falls Castle.

* * *

**Sleeping Plains**

The world seemed almost too beautiful for words, but definitely too beautiful for anybody like Maleficent, Xemnas, Keir, Dallas or Vaughn to live in. In fact, for a moment Riku was sure that King Mickey had made a mistake- not once had they seen a Heartless since they had made it to the world. In fact, they were still walking around, looking for this castle that was supposed to be in the dead center of it.

"_I_ could live here," Kairi stated, clenching Destiny Blade just in case, "and I don't see a castle anywhere."

"That's because you're nowhere near one," a low female voice called, not before letting out a horrible cackle. Although nobody was in sight, Sora, Riku and Kairi knew exactly who it was, and that they were definitely in the right world.

"Maleficent!" Sora shouted, and in a ring of darkness, Maleficent appeared in front of them. So infamous, they were surprised that nobody had gone to try and defeat her on their own already.

"You rang?" she smiled, and the three of them readied their weapons, "Oh, you want to fight me now?"

"We couldn't care less what happens to you, Maleficent," Sora informs her, "what we want is for you to call off Vaughn, Keir and Dallas and to stop stealing the jewels. But we know that's not going to happen, and _that's_ why we want to fight you."

"How charming," Maleficent voiced, "and even you, Riku, after I helped you utilize the darkness those years ago. This is how you repay me?"

"_Helped_ me?" Riku asked, "You and Xehanort's Heartless held me against my will! You used my body against me. I was trapped in the darkness for the longest time because of you! Yes, this is how I repay you."

"Ah, but it wasn't us who plunged headfirst into the darkness _for_ you, was it?" Maleficent asked.

"Just shut up and fight us!" Kairi yelled back at her, her firsts shaking. Rarely did she assert herself like that.

"As you wish, Princess," Maleficent chortled, and then her staff appeared in her hand like magic. The floor beneath her, at a five foot radius, moved above the ground and began to float, and dozens of Wyvern Heartless and at least fifty Knights appeared, staring straight at the three of them.

"I need Donald and Goofy," Sora grumbled, moving forward with Ultima in an attempt to jump on top of the platform that Maleficent had pulled out of the ground while Kairi and Riku destroyed the Heartless surrounding them. **Author's Note: It's like the first battle with Maleficent in Kingdom Hearts I! :D**

Maleficent barely seemed fazed when Sora attacked her, but it was obvious that she began to falter the more times she was wacked with Ultima. The Heartless began to lessen in number, mostly because they were falling to Way to Dawn; Destiny Blade didn't seem to have much effect on them.

"Come," Maleficent laughed about half way through the battle, "surrender your heart to the darkness!"

"Just shut up," Sora commanded her, exasperated.

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

"Boring..." Roxas muttered, flipping over on his side again, resting his head on Naminé's shoulder. The day before, they had a lot of exterminating to do, but ever since then, the Heartless were in such a low number that the defensive system took care of them all on its own. In fact, Roxas and Naminé had done nothing all day.

Suddenly, they both shot up as they heard the doorbell. "I got it!" they both cried, happy to get off of the couch. Running up to the large double doors of the castle, they opened them up and saw someone that had recently entered the Radiant Garden that Yuffie had introduced them to: Vincent Valentine.

"Are you two busy?" Vincent asked them.

"Nope," Roxas said, smiling. "Do you need help with the Heartless?"

"We need help saving a world from ultimate destruction, if that's what you're wondering," Vincent responded, raising an eyebrow slightly. Naminé and Roxas, not before looking at each other to silently confirm, called upon Oathkeeper, Oblivion and Oathbreaker. "Follow me," Vincent commanded them, taking it as a yes.

He ran through Radiant Garden, and Naminé and Roxas struggled to keep up. Halfway through their run, Roxas asked Naminé, "Shouldn't we be back there guarding the opal?" but Naminé shook her head.

"Remember what Cora said? It's in Vice's heart. He just didn't want anyone to know. We don't have to guard anything anymore."

"So why were we sitting there in the castle bored to death?" Roxas groaned, but Naminé just giggled, not answering him. Finally, they stopped in front of Merlin's house. Vincent, not a member of the Restoration Committee, knocked on the door. Although it took a minute, Merlin answered the door. He had a diaper on his head and was wearing only boxers, which were inside-out.

"What...? Why...?" Roxas began, not quite finishing his sentences, but Vincent didn't seem to regard that as anything.

"Is Cid there?" he asked, but Merlin only began to sing a song.

"Dammit, Vincent!" he leaned in and looked up at Vincent, "I love you." vincent, again not fazed by Merlin's odd behavior as if it had become a regular thing, led Naminé and Roxas back into the room. Cid was sitting at the computer, looking at a diagram of some world that looked only vaguely familiar to them.

"'M glad you two are here," Cid told them in his southern twang, though he did not turn around, "We weren't able to save Amber Heights or Pearl Falls, but Eventide Mountains 's in danger, 'n we need you two to go stop 'im."

"Who's him?" Roxas asked, holding on tightly to Oathkeeper and Oblivion.

"Vaughn. He's one of Maleficent and Xemnas's lackies. The Jewel Alliance hasn't done anything about it yet, so they probably haven't even noticed." Vincent responded for him, as Cid clicked a few more things on the screen.

"Here ya go," Cid said, pointing to the screen and moving over slightly so the two Nobodies could see what was on it, "here are the directions. Prince Coy was hidin' the emerald in the topmost floor of the castle. With any luck, he's not done terrorizin' the town yet."

"We don't have a Gummi Ship," Naminé chirped.

"You can borrow ours," Yuffie walked in the room, smiling, "because we want to help you." 'We' soon became clear to be herself, Leon and Cloud as the three of them walked in the large room, out of the corridor where Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Naminé, Cora, Blaise, Dolan and Kasa used to sleep in. It was almost charming that they hadn't gotten rid of the unnecessary space yet.

"I'll stay here in case of another Heartless vomit," Vincent told them.

Roxas and Naminé said no more, just followed Leon, Cloud and Yuffie out of Merlin's House, even though Merlin almost scared them to death, doing the macarina in front of the door, barely letting them get by.

"Remember when he was turned into a Rhapsody last year?" Cloud asked, glancing behind him, "He hasn't quite gotten over that yet."

Cloud and Yuffie drove the Gummi Ship and took care of the ammo, and Naminé, Roxas and Leon all sat in awkward silence in the backseat. It was considerably smaller than the Gummi Ships that they were used to, but still managed to fit all five of them. Leon was not easy to hold a conversation with, so they decided to silently prepare.

* * *

**Amber Heights**

"I can't believe we lost," Stash groaned, sliding down the side of the wall.

"Don't remind me," Vice sneered, "I've lost only two times before in my life. This is low," he murmured, looking up at the ceiling.

"So you two are just going to sit here and mope?" Cora asked, who was fuming from the battle more than anything. They had come so close to destroying Keir, but in the end he was way too fast for them, although that was only because he had the amber stone of Amber Heights. Not like that world meant anything anymore- it was totally barren.

"I need to rebuild my kingdom," whispered Stash mostly to himself.

"Pearl Falls can't be any better," Cora started, "why don't you combine with Jocasta and create a more powerful world?" she suggested, but maybe it was the wrong thing to say, especially because she had walked in on the two of them before they had left that morning. She couldn't tell if they loved or hated each other.

"Because they're at _war_, Cora," he sighed, "and I would never rule beside such a crazy airhead."

Cora opened her mouth to argue on Jocasta's behalf, but instead, her ringtone went off. "It's Umeko," she stated, and flipped open her phone. "Hello?" she asked Umeko, moreso excited for possible good news.

"Bad news," Umeko said, and Cora's spirits dropped, "Dallas got away."

"Join the club, we've got jackets. Keir's gone." Cora said.

"Keir? What about Vaughn, what happened with him?"

"He's not over at Pearl Falls?" Cora asked, confused, and then her eyes widened, as did her mouth, and she gasped. "Where is he?"

The two of them were silent for a while before they said at the same time, "Eventide Mountains."

* * *

**Sleeping Plains**

Maleficent was clenching her chest, gasping for breath. "Fools," she spat at them, "ignorant fools! The darkness has revived me twice before, it will revive me again! All fools you are, who reside in the light."

"If I'm not mistaken," Riku began, "Sleeping Plains is in the light realm."

"I'll be back!" she shouted at them before her body slowly disappeared into darkness. **Author's Note: Such a cliché villain line, but I thought it was perfect for Maleficent. And she just might come back ;o.**

"Xemnas," Sora stated, looking back at his two friends, both of whom had done an amazing job at destroying all the Heartless; seldom did Sora ever have to get off of Maleficent's earthly platform.

"I'll bet he's in the castle," Kairi suggested, and Sora nodded. Just a little further, for sure.

**Author's Note: I know it seems like we're nearing the end of the story, but don't worry. It'll probably get up to about chapter sixteen like the last two did. I'm still between whether or not to make another sequel. Dx I'm thinking I'll just make an entirely new KH fanfiction with new OCs and such. Like, alternate universe from this one entirely. We'll see. Anyway, please review!**


	11. Perfect in Weakness

**Author's Note: Great news! I finished my summer reading, so that's one thing out of the way, and guess what? Now I've got band camp, so I've got even less time to write! Yippee! Sarcasm, by the way. Anyway, I also got a Heartless Plushie in the mail today that I'd been waiting for. It's a Shadow. I named him Trinity. x3 So anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter! Please read and review, and thank you all so much for your reviews so far! I think this is the most reviewed of this series so far.**

* * *

_**Chapter XI:**_

_Perfect in Weakness_

**Sleeping Plains**

"Damn it," Riku spat as they trudged on through the Sleeping Plains. Nothing was in sight, not the smallest hint of a castle. Hell, all that ever surrounded them except for the large, green fields were one or two trees where they managed to find some apples to keep themselves _alive_ during their journey through the world.

"Chill out, Riku," Kairi said with no real heat as she walked forward as well, slightly drooping from lack of rest, "I'm sure we'll be there in no time."

"That's what you said ten minutes ago, Kairi," Sora argued. Even his hair seemed to be flattening out slightly, whatever gel he used to get his hair so spikey seemed to be melting off. That heat was intense, after all.

"At _least_ I'm being optimistic," she countered, and then stopped straight in her tracks. The two boys stopped along with her- it seemed that the Sleeping Plains wasn't entirely flat, after all. They stood at the edge of a cliff, with a level below them. Far in the distance, off in the horizon, was the smallest speck of a gothic building, obviously the castle.

"Good going, Kairi!" Sora exclaimed with that sudden and long-needed enthusiasm that Kairi and Riku loved him for. He rushed forward, jumping off of the small cliff, and Riku and Kairi ran after him. For a moment, they all forgot about their fatigue.

"Xemnas has gotta be in there. once we get rid of him, we won't even have to worry about the other three because Cora, Umeko and the others have got that all covered, right?" Riku asked the three of them as they ran, barely out of breath. His lack of tiredness probably came from the adrenaline of the moment, but still, Sora and Kairi must have been optimistic enough to agree with him.

It seemed to take at least five minutes of sprinting as fast as they could, but they soon made it to the foot of the castle. It was by no means a speck in the horizon any longer; in fact, it was one of the most giant buildings any of the three of them had seen, and was made up of such a cold brick that it seemed to not belong in such a beautiful world in the light realm.

"Locked," Kairi whispered after Sora tried to open the door. The three of them, having repeated this process many times before, pointed forward Way to Dawn, Kingdom Key and Destiny Blade. The colors of the purple, gold and green that shot out of these three met at the lock, and the telltale click had voiced to them that the castle was unlocked.

"It's about time," Sora grinned and moved forward, although they were immediately bombarded by Heartless of different shapes and sizes, all of them with one thought running through their heads: kill the keyblade wielders.

* * *

**Eventide Mountains**

"It looks like we made it just in time," Yuffie chirped, looking around at the world, each house seemingly set on top of another large mountain. People were still walking around, most of them extremely afraid. Without missing a beat, Naminé, Roxas, Yuffie, Leon and Cloud all advanced up to a man that seemed to be about in his early twenties.

"Have you seen any suspicious looking guy around here?" Roxas asked him, calling off Oblivion and Oathkeeper in an attempt to keep this man as sane as possible, "We're here to save this world."

"I haven't seen anyone, nossir," the man responded, "but I've heard news of a break in at the castle. People think he's after the throne. The army hasn't even stood a chance about it. Personally, though, I haven't seen anyone."

"Thank you," Naminé said, smiling. Yuffie led the way, but not before she managed to pocket about five hundred munny from the man without him even noticing.

"Yuffie," Cloud said lowly, and Yuffie just gave him the victory sign as they kept going.

"Is Yuffie..." Roxas began, "a kleptomaniac?"

Leon and Cloud looked at each other, as if for a second unsure of how to answer him, before they both looked back, nodding earnestly. "Yes." There was obviously no longer any question about it.

"Hurry it _up_!" Yuffie called back to them, waving her arm crazily. Hopefully, she hadn't heard any of what they said. Naminé destroyed any Heartless on the way, as they barely seemed to be a problem; since Umeko locked up the world shortly after she had moved there, it seemed, the Heartless were in so low of a number that their newly installed defense system managed to get rid of most of them.

"It's over there," Leon called from behind the group, not before shooting a Morning Star out of the way with Lionheart as they made it to the royal house. It was not quite a castle, as it was still extremely small, and was barely considered a castle. Nevertheless, it held the royal family and the workers of them. The doors were wide open and dead bodies, gruesome and stiff, lay about the castle entrance, some of their legs even moving. **Author's Note: Kind of like when you squish an ant and their legs keep twitching. I always thought that was sorta cool... xD**

"Prince Coy's gonna need a new army," Cloud remarked, clutching Ragnarok as if it would be his last time fighting.

"Hey Cloud," Yuffie stopped, putting a hand on his shoulder. With the other hand, she made the thumbs-up sign, winked one eye, and stuck out her tongue. "Chill out. This is nothing the Restoration Committee can't handle."

"And Roxas and Naminé," Roxas said, raising his hand dumbly.

"Right," Leon chuckled lowly.

The house was bustling with activity, much more than it would have been had it not been under attack. The five of them cherished this; it meant that there was still life in the house. Running forward, they remembered that the jewel was in the attic, so whoever was stealing it must have been on the way.

On their first flight of stairs that they encountered, they found their suspicious looking character.

A man, no older than seventeen or so, with long, red hair and odd blue-purple tips stared back at them. He was carrying a flowery keyblade and wearing a less than intimidating pink cloak, but the look in his impossibly gray eyes said 'killer'. "Well, well, this isn't the Jewel Alliance, but let me guess," he began as his keyblade, which they recognized as Lethal Valentine, disappeared and he crossed his arms. "Leon, Cloud and Yuffie from the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee. You three aren't much needed now because of _Prince Vice_, are you?"

The three of them noticeably stiffened.

"And Roxas and Naminé. I've longed to meet you two, actually. One Nobody from the Keyblade Master, Sora, though he was revived by the Princess of Heart, wasn't he? Speaking of a Princess of Heart, they can't possibly have Nobodies or Heartless because they're entirely pure. So that makes Naminé a mutt- born of Princess Kairi's heart and Keyblade Master Sora's body and soul. That makes you a-"

"A witch," Naminé cut him off sourly, pointing Oathbreaker directly in between his eyes even from the distance they were at, which was lower on the flight of stairs than this man was. "I've come to terms with that."

"You seem to have a lot of talk about who we are," Yuffie began.

"But who are you?" finished Cloud, Ragnarok also threateningly pointed at the man. It was joined quickly by Oathkeeper, Oblivion, Lionheart and Conformer, Yuffie's shuriken. The teenager wasn't fazed in the least, in fact, he seemed somewhat amused. Why was it that their villains were always so sick in the head? They could never recognize a threat.

"Call me Vaughn," the teenager said. Just saying 'call me' didn't necessarily mean this was his name, but they went along with it.

"Vaughn, too bad we won't be able to use that name religiously, isn't it?" Cloud asked, hotheaded as usual when he needed to be calm, though he had a tendency of being calm when it was alright to be hotheaded.

"That's funny, guys, they plan to kill me," Vaughn laughed, so hard that it could have been maniacal.

"Who are you _talking_ to, you freak?" Yuffie asked, her eyes narrowing.

"My _friends_," Vaughn laughed again, and about twenty Morning Stars, obviously Vaughn's Heartless of choice, appeared in front of them, all of them pointing menacingly at the five of them. Vaughn continued upward.

Naminé and Roxas started to hack at the Heartless, only being damaged a little bit.

"We can't worry about that," Leon told them, pulling them both back, "ignore the Heartless. Follow Vaughn!" Cloud and Leon this time, the fastest runners of the five of them, were leading while Yuffie did some damage control in the back with Conformer. Naminé and Roxas nervously readied themselves for an obviously difficult fight.

Anything, anything as long as they got the emerald before Vaughn did.

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

"Roxas and Naminé have got it covered," Vincent Valentine told the six of them as they all dropped down to Radiant Garden, simply to warn Roxas and Naminé to take special care of the castle. "They're with Yuffie, Cloud and Leon."

"That makes me feel better," Vice scoffed as they walked away from the house, nearing the Radiant Garden castle. It was getting late, and they would have a lot to do the next day to find and stop Keir, Vaughn and Dallas.

"Do you have doubts in Cloud?" Cora asked, fuming. After all, she had grown considerably close to Cloud back when he used to babysit her as a kid. That was, of course, long before he went off to work for Soldier. Still, he proved to be an able fighter.

"I have doubts in Roxas," Vice replied, eyeing her, "he's had a laziness problem for the past year. Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know. You were _sleeping_."

Vice was stunned by a slap across the face.

"Whose fault is it?" Cora asked as she and Vice stopped in a courtyard in the Radiant Garden. Jocasta, Stash, Umeko and Coy went forward to give them time to cool off alone. It had been a long day, after all, full of disappointments.

"What?" Vice asked.

"Whose fault is it that I was sleeping for a full year? Whose fault is it that I made a promise to stick with you no matter what, even a dangerous mission? Whose fault is it that it just feels like _last week_ that I fell unconscious, watching you get injured in my imagination, realizing that it was you getting hurt that was my _worst fear ever_?"

At this point, Vice could barely notice the small glints of light welling up in her eyes, as Cora blinked them away and turned around, her back facing him now as she stared at the sun setting, making the castle and the road ahead of them a silhouette, "That I act this way. Whose fault is it that I act this way? I push everyone away. I'm scared. I'm cynical. My heart's made mostly up of darkness. You don't even know who I used to be before I met you!"

Vice paused. He continued to listen, either curious or sorry.

"I was so happy, all the time," she continued, "I had friends that loved me. A family that was close to me. I got good grades in school. I told funny jokes. I was sometimes a little annoying with all of that," she managed a low, short laugh, before she spun around to look at Vice again. Her cheeks were slightly blackened from her running eyeliner, "You know what kills me the most? That wasn't your fault. All of that changed when I got this," she pulled out her hand, and Ether Essence appeared, "this damn _keyblade_!"

Cora threw it to the side, and it fell into the fountain she was next to. Soon, the only sound was that of the gurgling water of the fountain, the spraying liquid coming from the mouth of a koi fish. In a flash, the keyblade disappeared from the fountain and reappeared back in Cora's hand. Quieter now, Cora said, "And I can't get rid of it."

"You never wanted to be a keyblade wielder, did you?" Vice asked now, his voice entirely level and his eyes not moving from hers. He always had that annoying ability to never break eye contact with who he was talking to, especially when Cora had the habit of staring at someone's lip when he or she talked.

"It was fun, at first," Cora said, "it made me feel unique. It gave me power I never had. And then the Heartless came. I wanted to get rid of it. I wanted it gone so I could be myself again and be with my friends and family. Then they took my friends away from me, all except Umeko. Next came my family. If anything," she stopped, and for the first time in a long time _really_ looked at his bright green eyes, no longer darkened by the Heartless he used to ally with, "I owe you for giving me the last bit of defense I could afford from them, darkness or not. I didn't deserve you." She gripped her locket and suddenly felt horrible for lashing out at him.

"You're right," Vice said, almost causing Cora to recoil, "you didn't deserve me. You deserved a knight. You deserved someone to whisk you away and teach you how to control the light to defeat the Heartless instead of learning how to control the darkness to control the things that took the people that you loved away from you. But we can't change the past. What we can change is the future, and Cora?"

Cora, who didn't realize that her golden brown eyes had drifted to her shoes, glanced back up to look at Vice's, "Promise or not, I want to spend the future with you."

Before Cora got a chance to digest this confession, she felt a strong chest against hers and muscled arms around her body, embracing her. After only a moment of reluctance, Cora wrapped her own arms around Vice and sobbed on his shoulder. "Glad you got all that out?" Vice asked her as they held each other.

Cora managed a laugh, "Are you?"

Vice pulled away, looking at her sternly, "I'm honestly worried about those five. The royal house of Eventide Mountains isn't a highly secure place. It's pretty much just another house in the world. Vaughn probably has the stone by now."

"There's nothing we can do," Cora replied sullenly, "_except_ trust them. Let's go back to the castle. What I don't trust is the four of them being able to save the castle from Keir or Dallas while we're not around."

* * *

**Sleeping Plains**

The definition of the Castle of Sleeping Plains was just south of a maze. This was probably where Xemnas, Maleficent, Keir, Vaughn and Dallas had been living, but Sora never understood why they needed such a huge castle for _that_.

"We go upstairs from here," Kairi argued, pointing at a spiral staircase.

"No, we _came_ from upstairs," Riku retorted, "because it lead to a dead end. We're looking for _another_ set of stairs."

"No, we came from the staircase back _there_. They're identical. Just trust me!" Kairi shouted back at Riku. As the two of them continued arguing as to where to go, Sora was destroying many Shadows that seemed to enjoy following them along the entire length that they had covered of the castle.

"Listen," Sora said as he destroyed the last Heartless, and they all grew silent. Footsteps were audible from just above them, "It's gotta be upstairs. Let's go!" **Author's Note: How cool would that be for a KH game? Finding your way through a castle maze based on how loud the footsteps sound.**

Kairi gave Riku a triumphant look before Sora rushed ahead of them and led them up the ever spiraling staircase. It never seemed to end, in fact, until about five minutes later when they reached the next floor, which they swore was closer than that but didn't have any time to be asking questions.

Xemnas was standing in the middle of the room, looking at the other room. He must have been pacing. "Xemnas," Sora called, "call off Keir, Vaughn and Dallas."

"Just why would I do that?" Xemnas asked, not turning towards them, "They are so helpful, retrieving all of the jewels for me. In fact, they already managed to capture the ruby, the amber, and the sapphire. They almost have the emerald as well."

"No way," Riku breathed.

"They're _that_ strong?" Kairi asked, suddenly worried about any enemy that could have bested Vice, let alone Cora who was one of the strongest fighters they had ever met.

"You haven't seen the half of it," Xemnas laughed, turning around, "we also have information on where the opal of Radiant Garden, where that clever Vice has hidden it. To get to it, we would have to rip him apart, which I intend to do." He smiled maliciously.

"I'd like to see you get anywhere near him," Riku challenged.

"Ah, but Riku, I won't be going to him," Xemnas laughed, "he'll be coming to _me_, begging for the torture to end." With that, Xemnas disappeared in a portal of darkness, gone too soon for any of them to have time to register what he was talking about.

"Great," Kairi sighed, "after all that walking and all that searching, Xemnas got away."

"We got rid of Maleficent, that's good," Sora sighed, "for now, we have to get back to Destiny Islands. It's getting late and we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow if we want to seal the last of the unlocked worlds. There were only a couple, after all."

"What about this one?" Riku asked, who had been staring at the window that Xemnas was looking at. A small outline of a keyhole was present on the glass. Riku did not hesitate to lift Way to Dawn. A bright flash appeared from his keyblade, and the world clicked shut. "Now, we're ready to go home."

* * *

**Eventide Mountains**

Vaughn smirked, looking down at the small, green jewel in the palm of his hand. What was it that the emerald brought again? Right, that was it- persistence. It brought the absence of fatigue. Such an important part of fighting, but also deadly. If you never tire, it's easy to win a battle. If you never tire, it's easy to destroy yourself.

"Gotcha," Yuffie shouted as they walked in, throwing Conformer at him. The ninja girl had caught Vaughn off-guard, and the jewel slipped from Vaughn's grip, flying in the air. Vaughn reached up to grab it, but lucky for Leon, he had an amazing aim. Using Lionheart, he shot the emerald out of Vaughn's reach, and Cloud jumped up to grab it.

In the meantime, Vaughn, who was simply fuming from anger, started to get hacked away at by Naminé's Oathbreaker and Roxas's Oathkeeper and Oblivion. VAughn, finally regaining himself, pulled up Lethal Valentine and swept them both away at once.

"We can't deal with him," Roxas shouted at the other four, "we've got the jewel, now we have to _leave_," he shouted. Yuffie, Cloud, Leon and Naminé all seemed to either silently or vocally agree, and they began to rush out of the royal house, suddenly happy that it was so small. Vaughn was not following them.

"We did it!" Yuffie shouted in glee, but their spirits suddenly dropped as they saw Vaughn staring straight at them, outside of the house.

"How did you...?" Roxas began.

"There's a window in the attic, genius," Vaughn laughed, "and only two floors. Now hand over the jewel if you ever want to see the perfect peace in these worlds."

"Peace isn't what you're bringing," Cloud began.

"Peace is what you're taking away," Leon finished, "what you're bringing to these worlds is utter chaos, and I don't think you or your little friends realize that."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I grow a conscience _to care_," Vaughn laughed again, and did not falter as a small figure appeared before them.

"Hello! My name's Jiminy Cricket, and I'm your new co-" Jiminy was smashed under Vaughn's foot as he rushed forward to attack the five of them single-handedly, though his sights were on Cloud, who still held the emerald. **Author's Note: That was some pretty messed up humor; forgive me. Jiminy Cricket isn't dead. xD**

"Don't let him get the emerald," Roxas warned them all, clashing at Vaughn.

"Wouldn't _dream_ of it," a slightly peeved Yuffie responded, Conformer knocked against Lethal Valentine, and as Vaughn hit it backwards, she managed to cut Yuffie in the stomach, causing her to falter and trip.

As Naminé moved to help Yuffie, she was knocked out of the way, and Vaughn charged at Cloud. He was so fast that Cloud could barely register what was happening, but clashed his keyblade against Ragnarok and then against Cloud himself, but just the flat end of the teeth. The emerald went flying.

Vaughn grabbed the emerald, and disappeared in a portal before they could stop him.

"I let him get away," Cloud choked out, instantly angry at himself.

"It's not your fault," Naminé insisted, shaking her head and putting her hands over Cloud's. Cloud hesitated, but then he nodded slowly. "Think about it this way," she told Yuffie and the others after about a minute of silence, "we saved the world from it's destruction. Now we just have to find them before they get the last jewel."

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

"Apparently, Sora, Riku and Kairi destroyed Maleficent," Vice told Cora, who was drinking a coffee as she sat, looking at her own hands in the kitchen. The warmth was extremely reassuring, "so your dreams should be ending."

"So it was my dreams," Cora said, "my nightmares, that were bringing all of the Heartless here. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any at all."

"It was Maleficent that was controlling the Heartless," Umeko pointed out, moving small balls of darkness across her two hands, which she had changed into her anti-form, "so I would suspect that they're not going to come at all. But I think what we'll have to worry about now is Nobodies."

"Right," Coy shot up, his eyes wide, "Xemnas."

"And not just that," Jocasta said, calling them all over as she looked at her own radar on her own small PDA, "it looks like a lot of worlds are in trouble. I think it's only fair that we go save them from the Nobodies. After all, it's mostly our fault that they're like that."

"How do you figure?" Stash asked, not quite grasping it.

"They wouldn't be in so much trouble if we were able to get the jewels," Jocasta replied, blowing a lock of blue hair out of her face. They were all silent, not because they didn't have a response but because they knew she was right.

**Author's Note: Yay, I was pretty content with that chapter. I don't know too much about what'll happen from now until the ending, but I can say that Disney Castle will probably be revisited in the next chapter. So, until then, review por favor!**


	12. Whispers in the Dark

**Author's Note: So, I have a pretty cool idea in store for this chapter, and something that should keep the 'filling' chapters nice and full from now until the ending. It'll be pretty damn fun for me, but it might make you guys a little pissed. xD I dunno. We'll see. Either way, enjoy please! And review, that too. Though, I must thank you- all three of you- for your reviews. I gotta admit, I find LightsDarkChild's to be especially entertaining, what with there being two technical reviewers on one account. xD**

* * *

_**Chapter XII:**_

_Whispers in the Dark_

**Disney Castle**

"Why can't I just go home now?" Oki asked, glaring at the duck. She had long since been released from her binds which held her to the ground, but that was because somehow Maleficent, she couldn't see, managed to sneak into the private room, knock them all out, steal the ruby from Goofy and leave undetected.

"No!" Donald shouted back at her, still ripping his feathers out from having to deal with this girl, "Maleficent is dead, so Xemnas might want to come back here and force whatever of Cora's memories might still be left!"

"I haven't remembered a thing," Oki mumbled, "they're all gone. Bring me back to Destiny Islands." She paused for a moment, "I miss my big sister."

"You-" Donald stopped for a moment, his jaw dropping.

"Hey, you called her your big sister!" Goofy noticed, smiling widely. "All y'ever do is complain about her, Oki." He thought for a moment, "Stuff like... whiny, insecure, overly controlling, brat..."

"Yeah," she agreed, "but I miss my whiny, insecure, overly controlling brat of a sister. Plus, she has her driver's license and I don't. If I ever want sea salt ice cream, who's going to drive me to Dairy Queen?" she asked, entirely serious. Donald and Goofy opened their mouth to answer her, but then sighed, defeated.

"Donald, Goofy!" King Mickey's voice came as he burst into the door. "Something's goin' on. I think Keir, Vaughn and Dallas broke into the castle, and they're after Raelyn!"

"Raelyn?!" Donald asked, surprised as ever. "Why do they want her? She's just my apprentice!"

"I don't know, but you two better come quick," King Mickey called his Kingdom Key, and rushed forward without looking back to see if his two friends were following, just assuming that they were. Of course they were, and they were clenching Save the King and Save the Queen in hand. They had instructed Oki to 'stay put'. Like hell- she followed them.

"Oki, get _BACK IN THERE_!" Donald shouted, at his wit's end. Oki, with her headphones in, pretended she couldn't hear them, even though her ipod had long since lost juice in its battery. Still, she was a good actress.

"What are you doin' here?" King Mickey asked, intruding on the three boys, who were cornering Raelyn in her room. Raelyn had her staff pointed directly at Keir, the leader of the three, though her hands were shaking. They were so much more _intimidating_, Raelyn thought, than even Maleficent was when she had arrived barely a week earlier.

Keir barely looked back at first, but when he noticed it was King Mickey, he turned around and smiled, "You might have learned that Maleficent is gone. Important or not, we needed a female leader for Pearl Falls, to uphold tradition," his smile turned slightly sinister, "and we remembered how full of life Raelyn had been, protecting your precious ruby only a little while before. We'll take her."

"Besides," Vaughn laughed, "she's pretty."

"I don't know," Dallas said, thinking for a moment, "I'd take that green-haired girl," he glanced at Oki, the last living citizen of Pearl Falls, aside from Jocasta and Dolan.

"Are you kidding?" Vaughn asked now, and for a moment, they just seemed like a trio of teenage boys, "She's, like, ten."

"I just turned fourteen today," Oki argued, "and besides, he is cute."

Dolan smiled something slightly malicious, "I'm sixteen, and you could come with us if you want," he practically purred at her.

"_HOW CAN YOU BE FLIRTING WITH THE ENEMY? AND ESPECIALLY AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!_" Donald roared at Oki, though Oki barely twitched. She shrugged, her eyes closed, and then mouthed something like 'call me' to Dolan. **Author's Note: I totally didn't plan on writing that... xD**

"Queen choices aside," Keir began with a little laughter in his voice, "let's get the _old_ King and his subjects out of the way as long as we're at-" Keir shouted out as a Gravira sent him to the ground. Completely stunned, Vaughn and Dallas turned to look at Raelyn, who had cast the Gravira. The look on her face told them that she wouldn't be an easy one to take.

"Hey, Oki," Goofy mumbled in a half-whisper to the green haired girl, slipping her King Mickey's cell phone, "go call the Jewel Alliance."

"After I order pizza, okay?" Oki asked, walking out of the room.

"Later, cutie," Dallas called at her, but was knocked to the side by none other than Keir, who had just regained himself.

"Focus!" Keir hissed.

* * *

**Twilight Town**

"It's just how I remember it," Kairi smiled, her hands behind her back as she walked through the Tram Commons. It caught her off-guard, however, when several Dusks appeared in front of her. "Xemnas!" she hissed, reminding herself that Xemnas would be sending out Nobodies. In no time, Way to Dawn, Ultima Weapon and Destiny Blade took out all of the Dusks around them.

"Hey, have you guys ever noticed," Riku started, and got Kairi and Sora's attention, "That King Mickey's name has the word 'key' in it?"

Kairi and Sora didn't even respond. They simply looked at Riku for a good twenty seconds before they continued forward, and Sora started off about the keyhole, "We never did find the original keyhole to this place, just the one that Cora had moved it to a couple of years ago. Any thoughts?" he asked them.

"Maybe we should ask Hayner, Pence and Olette," Kairi asked, who was really just excited to see her old friends again.

It seemed like a pretty easy walk from the Tram Commons tot he Usual Spot back in the Back Alley. The Dusks didn't seem to be terrorizing the place too badly, which was nice considering the sentimental value of the world, not to mention the locational value. "Hayner, Pence, Olette!" Kairi cried, walking in.

"Kairi!" Pence was the first to exclaim, and they all greeted Sora and Riku as they walked in as well. "Let me guess," Pence asked, "you guys are looking for the keyhole."

"Well... yeah," Sora began, slightly dumbfounded, "yeah, we're looking for the keyhole. How did you know?"

"You always are, silly," Olette responded, getting up, "We don't know where it is, but we'll help you find it."

"We?" Hayner asked, and everyone looked at him, "Olette, what gives you the right to speak for all of us?" After a moment, Hayner's serious face turned to a smile, and he nodded, "Okay, we'll help you find the keyhole."

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

"What's got you down?" Cora asked after she practically skipped down the stairs to see two relatively upset looking Nobodies, Roxas and Naminé. Usually it was only Roxas, but this time, the both of them were lounging on the couch, staring at a blank television screen. She wondered faintly if they realized nothing was on.

"Vaughn got away with the emerald. But we managed to save Eventide Mountains's people," Naminé stated, smiling meekly as Cora grinned apologetically. "What's got you so... not down?" she asked the girl. She liked to believe that she had a special connection with her after helping her while she was sleeping for an entire year. She probably did.

"I feel different," Cora said, but then reconsidered, "not necessarily different from who I've always been, but different from who I've been lately."

"If they have the emerald, sapphire, amber and ruby, what does that mean?" Roxas asked the two of them, interrupting their girlish conversation.

"It means," Vice said, walking in on the three, "the only jewel they have left to get is the opal, and they'd have to get through me to get at it," he smiled. "I only wonder if Maleficent ever told them where it was located."

"Probably not," Cora admitted, "even thought Maleficent and Xemnas were on the same team, they seemed pretty independent in my opinion."

"Ever wonder why Pearl Falls's jewel isn't a pearl?" Naminé asked out of nowhere.

"Maybe because they're all mined," Cora suggested, "I'm pretty sure that opals, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and ambers are all mined. Pearls come from an actual animal. Maybe that's got something to do with it?"

"It doesn't matter," Vice responded, who just got off of his cell phone, "Oki just called; there's trouble at Disney Castle. Raelyn's in trouble and they threatened the King. We have to go." he finished.

"Where's everyone else?" Cora asked.

"Jocasta and Stash are in the kitchen, and Umeko and Coy are in Coy's room."

"Wait. The same room?" Cora asked, slightly worried.

"Yeah. You know, now that I think about it, I've been hearing a lot of really weird noises coming from Coy's room lately. A lot of-"

"OH-kay," Cora interrupted him, "you go interrupt Coy and Umeko from... whatever it is that they're doing... and I'll go get Jocasta and Stash." Cora shuddered and walked away.

"I just meant a lot of exploding. I think they're watching action movies together," Vice said, though only Roxas and Naminé were listening. He shook his head and rushed upstairs to interrupt their movie marathon.

"We'll be here," Naminé shouted, even when Prince Vice was far out of earshot of the two of them, "on the couch. Again. Protecting the castle. If anyone cares. We'll just... oh forget it." Naminé threw her head back on the back of the couch and closed her eyes in an attempt to catch up on sleep.

* * *

**Twilight Town**

"That was fast," Kairi mentioned, smiling as they had found the room with the keyhole inside of the old, abandoned mansion- right inside of the laboratory. Riku had just raised Way to Dawn and sealed the world up- Hayner, Pence and Olette looked oddly satisfied. They had so much to learn about darkness, light and keyblade wielding.

"Are you guys going to stay a little longer?" Pence asked hopefully.

"I wish," Sora started, apologetically shaking his head, "we still have a couple more worlds we have to seal before we can even think about stopping Vaughn, Keir and Dallas. It'll also help us get a little stronger."

"Who are they?" Olette asked, her acid green eyes widening as they walked up the stairs and out of the library-like room that the lab was hiding in.

"Three dudes," was all Riku said, though he added, "they're working for Maleficent and Xemnas. Take a guess, be as creative as possible. You're probably right."

"They're working to steal all of the cheese from the world and they need to take over the worlds to do all that," Pence suggested, and the other five just looked at him for a moment before shaking their heads and continuing forth.

"Don't be that creative," Sora warned him.

It took them a while, but they reached the Gummi Ship and bade their farewells to their friend, promising them that they would go back and visit them a little more often. Pence wouldn't stop talking about cheese- it was actually pretty annoying.

"Where to now?" Kairi asked Sora. It was still only about midday.

"Let's go to Traverse Town," he suggested, smiling.

* * *

**Disney Castle**

It wasn't long before the six of them managed to make it to Disney Castle. **Author's Note: I can't believe I almost typed 'sex' instead of 'six'. Dx Ugh, it's been a long day.** The place looked to be in no disrepair and completely void of Heartless _or_ Nobodies. They could have passed by this world, seeing no problem, and continued on their way if Oki hadn't called to warn them it was in trouble.

There was also a man with pizza in front of the door, waiting eagerly for someone to answer, but the Jewel Alliance chose to ignore that.

"Where are they?" Cora asked, running closely behind Vice on their way into the castle.

"Up there," Umeko decided, pointing at a flight of stairs, "I see footprints." They looked at her as if she was nuts for a moment, but then looked at the ground- there were, in fact, footprints of dirt. The three of them had probably cut through the garden, tracking dirt in where they walked. But there were only two sets of footprints. Why was that?

Still, they all didn't have a reason to worry about that- what they had to worry about was saving the King and Raelyn, even if Donald and Goofy most likely had the situation under control. Hell, even the King could protect himself.

"We're here," Vice gasped, as they had sprinted down the hallway and into Raelyn's room. They were all deep in battle, and barely twitched to acknowledge their existence. That is, until Keir noticed them, and turned around after knocking Raelyn to the side, rendering her, finally, unconscious. **Author's Note: I keep accidentally typing Keri! Dx I'm sure it's been typed that way multiple times in this chapter or some of the last...**

"Aha, there she is, the eighth _Princess of Heart_!" Keir laughed, turning around. He was obviously in somewhat of a high from the fight he had just almost won, but Vaughn and Dallas seemed to get the joke, and laughed just as hard as them.

"Shut up!" Cora shouted, her voice noticeably a little less full of heat than usual. Getting everything off her chest the night before was probably the best thing she had ever done for herself- for once, she felt more like the old Cora instead of the darkness tainted Cora, but Keir probably noticed that- that was why he was taunting her.

"Hey, Cora, why don't you make me a heart?" Keir cooed, walking forward.

"What, three nice, warm ones to replace the icy ones you three've got?" Cora asked. Two- or four- could play at that game.

"Ouch!" Dallas exclaimed, but just before laughing a little and putting a hand on his chest, "that _hurt_," he stated with mock feel, as he began slowly walking towards Cora, as well as Vaughn. Cora found herself edging backwards. Vice and the rest of The Jewel Alliance had their weapons readied, though they would not attack- not immediately, and not when they had all of the jewels except the opal.

"But seriously now," Vaughn said, "why don't you demonstrate a little bit of that special ability that you've got and give us a heart."

"Why don't _I_ demonstrate _my_ special ability on your _faces_?" Umeko asked, threateningly raising a fist- in anti-form mode, at the three of them.

"Umeko," Cora warned, and Umeko lowered her fist, but her glare stayed piercing the three of them, "Why do you want hearts so bad? You all _have_ hearts. If this is for Xemnas, then you can just-"

The three boys erupted in laughter.

"You're kidding," Keir stated, not asked, "Xemnas is but a pawn. He'll probably receive a lowly world, like that Eventide Mountains," Coy tensed up and raised his daggers slightly, "it's _me_ that needs the heart."

Keir laughed as he noticed the dumb silence spreading throughout everone in the Jewel Alliance, King Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Those three, of course, were injured and pressing themselves against the wall for support, "You still haven't figured it out, have you?"

"You're Heartless," Cora half-whispered. "All three of you?"

"Just me," Keir laughed, creating a small ball of flowing darkness in his left hand, "even without me using my darkness powers I'm surprised it took you so long to find out. When you couldn't tell on our first meeting, I supposed it would be a fun game to find out how long it would take," he laughed, and looked at Vice, "especially you, who lived the majority of your conscious life as a Heartless."

"I've nothing to do with you," Vice retorted.

"How?" Cora asked, shaking her head, "How is that possible?"

"Vaughn, Dallas and I both discovered two years ago, soon after Dallas's parents died, that we were all keyblade wielders. It was Maleficent who found us, actually," he laughed, "she had been planning this for a long time. We just got Xemnas in on it at the end of last year, when you idiots forgot to destroy him.

"Dallas and Vaughn didn't want to obey her, and neither did I, but I was the one who lashed out about it. Maleficent summoned a Heartless. I didn't know how to use my keyblade yet." He laughed now, the memory most likely scarred him, "And even that, Dallas and Vaughn had to tell me. I don't remember a _thing_ about my life before that."

His smile grew and his violet eyes bore holes into Cora, not before flashing yellow, "And if you won't give me a heart, I'll just have to take one." Before Cora could register what was happening, she felt a hand, she felt pure darkness, plunging into her chest.

Everything went black.

**Author's Note: This seemed like a good place to stop. I promise to continue updating, but I have to say that this will get pretty difficult next Friday; I've got band camp from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon, and at four thirty is Color Wars, this special picnic for band. I haven't missed it yet. But, it ends at about eight thirty, so expect a chapter, maybe, but just a little later.**

**Please review, and thank you for reading!**


	13. There For You

**Author's Note: There's not much of a beginning Author's Note today, but I do want to say that I'm sorry for the cliffhanger, I hate those so much. xD I can assure you, if Cora's heart got stolen and Keir got away with it, the story would end relatively short. So, here you go, and please review! This chapter was inspired by There For You by Flyleaf**

* * *

_**Chapter XII:**_

_There For You_

**Disney Castle**

Ecstasy.

Cora, with her year of sleeping, almost forgot what the darkness felt like. The description, she could recite flawlessly. The actual feeling, however, was a much different thing. The closest thing she could think of was ecstasy. Then again, she wasn't _thinking_; moreso, she was _feeling_ everything around her. She didn't know where she was, what had happened or who she was with. She felt it.

She was in the castle with the ruby. She had fallen into the darkness; she no longer felt a beating heart inside of her. She was with keyblade wielders, and quite a few others. She was also with a Heartless, but why could he wield a keyblade? He was a human shaped Heartless; those were so... _rare_. He was a keyblade wielder before his heart was stolen. Now things started to make sense.

"_No_!" one of them, a girl with longish blonde hair and forest green hazel eyes cried out. She was holding a keyblade as well. If Cora were to only kill the keyblade wielders, the threat against her would be gone for good... No... there was something different about these people.

"With that," a boy, another blond one with violet eyes spoke. This was the Heartless- he seemed disappointed. He didn't get a heart. It floated up to Kingdom Hearts. Or did it? Cora didn't know, she wasn't there. "We'll be going." In a flash of darkness, one that no longer frightened Cora, they were gone, carrying a girl with short, tousled light brown hair carrying a staff. Did she work in the castle?

"What do we do now?" another girl asked. This one had shining blue hair and even bluer eyes. She was a Princess- and almost a Princess of Heart, at that, her heart was so pure... Cora shook her head and backed off- what was she thinking?

She had to leave before she hurt anybody.

But she _wanted_ to hurt them. She wanted a heart.

Unable to fight with herself, Cora slipped between the darkness and disappeared.

* * *

Vice and the others, however, were losing it. "She's gone," Vice mumbled, his fists clenching so hard that his nails were digging into his palms. Bending down, he picked up a small, shining object that had fallen to the floor when Cora turned into a Neoshadow- the locket he had given her, much, much earlier.

"Have you guys noticed," Stash started, after a minute of silence, "that when we beat Shadows, hearts appear and float back up to Kingdom Hearts. But when we beat Neoshadows, they don't release any hearts."

"So Neoshadows aren't born out of hearts consumed by darkness, or even stolen hearts, rather they're born out of the absence of hearts," Jocasta contributed, "at least, that's all that seems to make sense with them."

"Did anyone see where the heart went?" Umeko asked, who was shaking.

Only Vice spoke up. "The locket," he muttered, "her heart went into the locket. I'm just surprised there's room." He seemed to still be joking, but there was some kind of a seriousness on his face that stopped the rest of the Jewel Alliance from laughing.

"Vice," King Mickey started, "ya have ta' go get Cora before she goes to another world where she might get destroyed. We don't have any defense systems here, and all the Heartless are gone because the world's been all sealed up. It's your last chance."

"You think we can get her back?" Coy asked, who had been looking at his feet the entire time, willing what he saw to be some sort of a trick of his eyes.

"Nope," King Mickey said truthfully, "I don't, but I know you should try. Go!"

* * *

She couldn't find any hearts, no matter where she went. No people; they were all safely locked in the castle, which she would have to search next. Somehow, she felt stronger than the average Shadow, which made sense because she was a Neoshadow, but how could she be so strong if she couldn't even remember her _name_ anymore?

Hell, she couldn't remember _anything_ except that she was a girl and she was born into darkness recently, but that was enough.

Slipping through the courtyard, the Neoshadow fell through the shadows under the bricks of the castle, and followed the scent of a heart. The one she seeked wasn't exactly pure _or_ extremely tainted, but it smelled _different_.

The corridors were very easy to follow when she was on the trail of one- finally, it seemed, she made it to a room, one where a girl was waiting patiently on a bed, suspecting nothing. The Neoshadow hid in the shadow under the vanity and looked at the girl for a moment- long, straight dark green hair and violet eyes, she came from the world with the sapphire, that much was sure. Of course, she sensed sort of an emptiness at that world, but that was beyond the point.

More than that, there was something other than herself in that heart of hers- the Neoshadow could taste it. Just a small bit left, it seemed most of the memories had been taken away, but there were a couple left in there. One of friends, and one of herself.

The Neoshadow seemed very proud of herself, being able to sense all of this just by concentrating on the girl, who did not see her under the small table- she could practically see an image of the girl in which this green-haired one had memories of. She was tall girl with straight, most likely curly in its true nature, brown hair with one lower layer black. Her eyes were a beautiful golden brown, warm. She looked like she would have come out of the world with the amber stone, but she was born in Nibelheim. The girl was tall and relatively slender with high cheekbones that seemed to always be blushing.

She looked so... so... _familiar_.

The Neoshadow shook that passing thought of her head and finally, sensing that the coast was clear, rushed forth to take the heart from the girl. After all, she couldn't seem to be able to sense the other memory, not well, at least.

The girl, she could tell what her name was now, being so close, Oki, screamed for a moment, but it was cut short before anyone could hear as the Neoshadow's long, clawed hand reached in for her heart. It was so easy, but just as she gripped the soul of the anatomical heart, she paused. The second and last memory of the other girl that she had in there was completely vivid now.

Names. Names were the first thing she recognized. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Naminé, Roxas, Axel, Sienna, Kasa, Dolan, Blaise, Anixens, Coy, Umeko, Thomas. None of these names seemed to mean a thing. Just a jumble of words. It wasn't until she saw faces, faces that somewhere, somehow she recognized, that she pulled out of the girl, not taking her heart along with her. How did Oki know these people?

Hell, how did the Neoshadow know these people? And where were they?

The latter was answered once a group of people, only two of which she recognized from the faces, and that was the blond girl from before and the boy with the tousled black hair, except it was no longer streaked with red and his eyes were lighter. There was also the boy with the light brown hair and eyes, the prince of the world with the emerald, no doubt.

"There she is," the raven haired boy said. The Neoshadow prepared herself to attack- in a memory she didn't recognize or not, these people had hearts- all five of them did. Just as she jumped, however, something golden was thrown at her, golden and shining. There was a _heart_ in there, and it seemed so familiar.

The Neoshadow caught it, and so fast, but so slowly, so many memories started to overwhelm her brain.

_My name is Cora Olsen. I was born in Nibelheim until I reached five years old, when I moved to Twilight Town. In Nibelheim, I met my first two friends, and also my babysitters, Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart. When I moved, in a year I had met my first friend, Umeko Otram. It was there, eight years later on my fourteenth birthday, that I discovered that I am a keyblade wielder._

_Umeko and the King of Disney Castle, Mickey, tried to teach me how to wield a keyblade and overcome the Heartless that seeked out my pure heart, but to no good. I then found the Heartless of a man named Axel. His name was Thomas, and he showed me darkness. Together, we tried to capture the eighth and most powerful Princess of Heart, but we didn't know until after my heart had been tainted that it was me that we were searching for. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Naminé, Axel, Sienna and my best friend Umeko went to save me from Thomas before he made me open the Door to Darkness. After he stole the heart of the third in our trio of born keyblade wielders, Sienna, and killed the Nobody, Naminé, he had manipulated me into giving him a new heart- a pure one before he escaped to commence a new plan without me, and Axel's heart was forever lost within Kingdom Hearts. He was now a human. He managed to trick the others by making them think that my heart was still pure and that I could open the door, when, in all reality, I was opening it with my keyblade. He tricked me, long before, into thinking we needed the eighth Princess of Heart._

_I left for Twilight Town with my best friend, Umeko and we stayed in the town for the rest of the year, happy to be home. Although our families had been lost in the darkness, we found small houses for ourselves, almost like our own personal orphanages. We became friends with Hayner, Pence and Olette. All was well, until Umeko followed a man who looked like an Organization member to The World that Never Was with Axel, and they got themselves captured. Sora, Riku, Kairi and Roxas came to me when I called for help, and we went to go save Umeko and Axel from the newly revived Organization._

_We were too late, however, as they created a new superbeing from Sienna's Nobody, Anixens. These superbeings, Rhapsodies, were stronger than Nobodies and Heartless combined. To get strong enough, we would have to lock other worlds before we could stop Thomas from opening up the Door to Color in a new realm called the Realm of Color. In the meantime, Umeko and Axel formed an alliance with the first Rhapsody, a human-shaped one named Coy, the newly revived Naminé, and the self-sacrificing Anixens herself. Together, they destroyed the Organization from the inside out. Umeko and Coy even fell in love._

_I, on the other hand, went to Neverland with Riku and Dolan, the usual group we split off in. Captain Hook rearranged the world so that we saw our worst fears, and as I was lost in my worst fear of Thomas getting hurt, I was pulled into the darkness. I don't remember much past that point, only what he has told me. I fell asleep._

_One year later, I woke up to Thomas, who had changed almost completely, as well as changed his name to Vice. Sometime when my memories were manipulated, I had pulled him into the light. He was the new Prince of Radiant Garden to take Ansem the Wise's place. It wasn't long before we discovered that Xemnas, who had lived through the fights, had made an alliance with the sorceress Maleficent and three keyblade wielders named Keir, Vaughn and Dallas to collect the jewel of each Kingdom world for the ultimate power: the ruby of Disney Castle, the emerald of Eventide Mountains, the sapphire of Pearl Falls, the amber stone of Amber Heights and the opal of Radiant Garden._

_So far, Keir, Vaughn and Dallas have every jewel except one, which Vice has safely hidden inside of his own heart. Unfortunately, Naminé had dumped my old memories into a girl named Oki, Kairi's adoptive sister, and Maleficent found them. She knows where the opal is, though it is possible that she didn't tell Keir, Vaughn, Dallas or Xemnas. Maleficent was destroyed by Sora, who had been helping seal up worlds along with Riku and Kairi._

_They just left with Raelyn, to replace Maleficent._

* * *

**Traverse Town**

"Where did all of you people come from?" Sora asked the group of people he was confronted with in Twilight Town. Worried fathers, comforting mothers, crying babies and other confused citizens had landed there, doubling the population of Twilight Town. "What world are you all from?"

None of them seemed interested in answering Sora. "Meridian Orchard," a man finally responded, stepping forward. He was an old looking man, but his voice wasn't old. In fact, he seemed that he had been aged from all of his stress, "we're just all surprised that the world was finally swallowed up."

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked, furrowing her eyebrows. Most people didn't even know that other worlds existed, let alone a thing about the darkness, light, Heartless, Nobodies, or anything of the sort.

"Meridian Orchard had been falling in the darkness for centuries," the old man responded, "slowly, inch by inch, getting swallowed in. None of us expected, still with half of our world left, that it would fall so quickly."

"I've never seen it on the radar," Riku admitted, shaking his head, "we could have saved it."

"There's nothing we can do now," Sora stated pessimistically, "the Door to Darkness is closed, so is the Door to Light. We would have to find another way to get your world back." Everyone in the group, whose heads were hanging, didn't seem to move as if they had feared the worst. "Just give us a few days, and we'll come back. I promise by then I'll find a place for you all to live," Sora decided, smiling hopefully.

"Sora," Riku whispered, "what are you doing?"

"Just trust me," Sora whispered back. He looked back at the hopeful faces of everyone in the crowd and stated, "I promise. Now, to go to that annoying keyhole with the bell..." Sora's voice became noticeably more annoyed at the simple thought.

On their travel from the first district, since they were away from the group of people from Meridian Orchard, Kairi asked, "What do you have planned for them?" with that pure, innocent kind of curiosity.

"Amber Heights and Pearl Falls," Sora stated, walking forward, "both of their people were all killed. You can't have a world without people to rule it." Riku and Kairi never thought about it, but they nodded.

"That's actually... pretty smart," Riku said, giving Sora some well-deserved credit.

Sora rubbed under his nose as if it made him look superior.

"Let's just go seal that keyhole," Kairi giggled, calling Destiny Blade.

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

Everything. Cora remembered absolutely everything. The light was much too bright when she opened her eyes, however; she wasn't even in Disney Castle anymore. Where was she? "What..." Cora mumbled, but wasn't sure if she could remember. She blinked again; she was in Vice's room. How did she get there?

"You're awake," Umeko's voice came, and she giggled, "I was starting to think that you'd given up on us."

"Cora? She doesn't give up even when she's supposed to," a boy's voice, Stash's, came, followed by an eruption of laughter from everyone. It was true- everyone who lived in the castle was surrounding her. From left to right, there was Vice, Umeko, Jocasta, Naminé, Roxas, Coy and Stash.

"I was..." Cora groaned, "I was a Heartless."

"Sure were," Jocasta said as soothingly as she could muster, "one of those special Neoshadows. If you were a regular Shadow, things probably would have been a lot harder." With a few more chuckles, the rest of the group agreed to that as well.

"They took Raelyn," Cora mentioned, pushing herself up with her hands so she could be at eye level with the people in front of her.

Everyone suddenly looked grave. "Yes," Naminé muttered, "I heard they did."

"Which means that they'll be after the opal very soon," Vice informed them.

"But they have to go through you to get the opal, right?" Cora asked, "Because you hid it in your heart soon after you learned that they were after the jewels. Even with the other jewels under their possession, the opal is strength, so you should be able to beat them, right?"

Vice sighed before putting his fist to his mouth, "I don't have the opal. You do."

"What?" Cora asked, "That's stupid. You said it's in your-" Vice silenced her by reaching forward and lifting the locket from around her neck, so Cora was looking at the small golden heart at the end of the chain. "Your heart," she finished.

"It is," Vice said, "but they don't know that, and they'll fight me to the death to get the opal. You can't let them know. But you were right- the opal has strength. You haven't utilized it yet- as long as its around your neck, you can."

"What do you mean?" Umeko asked, who had been listening patiently with Coy, Jocasta, Stash, Naminé nd Roxas.

"I think," Coy started, "that it means that the opal is the last chance to beat Keir, Vaughn and Dallas and get the rest of the jewels back."

"Hey, Coy," Naminé started quietly, "I wanted to point out... you're a lot less socially awkward these days."

That simply made Coy beam. He smiled and dipped his head down in a bow.

"I'm going to call Sora, Riku and Kairi," Naminé said, pulling Cora's cell phone off of her nightstand. Cora didn't seem to mind. "I think they have a right to know."

"Good," Cora said, smiling that rare but vibrant smile, "I haven't seen Sora, Riku and Kairi since... since..." Cora suddenly felt her eyelids grow heavy as she found herself falling back asleep, her hand still clenching the locket.

* * *

**Traverse Town**

"I hate that bell," Sora admitted, shuddering. Kairi and Riku laughed. **Author's Note: That was possibly the most annoying part of Traverse Town: locking the world. And I made them go up and ring that bell so many times, too. xD** Still, Sora shocked himself out of his humor when he saw his cell phone ring. "Hullo?" he asked, picking it up. The caller ID said Cora, but it was Naminé who answered.

"Sora, glad you picked up," she started, "there's been some trouble with Cora. Keir's a Heartless- we were shocked, too, and he stole Cora's heart. Once he realized it didn't work for him, he left it, but it went back into her locket. It's a long story, but she's alright now, and we thought you should know." **Author's Note: Erm, I realized this might get a little confusing. I always pictured the human-shaped Heartless to be kind of like Nobodies in the sense that they're not hearts that are consumed by darkness, but the absence of hearts. That's kind of what I thought Neoshadows were, because when you destroy them, hearts don't float up to Kingdom Hearts even though they aren't Emblem Heartless. I might be wrong, and I'm sure we'll learn more in the new games, but just go along with it xD.**

Sora's eyes widened, "We just finished up in Traverse Town, so we're going to go over to visit, okay? Is it alright if we stay the night?" Kairi and Riku, who hadn't heard anything of what Naminé said, were relatively confused.

"Sure," Naminé said, "see you then." As Sora hung up, he told the three of them exactly what Naminé had said. Riku seemed particularly affected.

"What are we doing waiting here?" Riku asked them angrily, rushing back towards where the Gummi Ship was, "Let's _go_."

**Author's Note: Mm, a pretty eventful chapter! I'm excited to work with Raelyn a little bit, I've got some ideas for her. Such a neglected character, I feel pretty bad about it. And, if you guys are wondering if Cora got a Nobody, that might just prompt me to write a sequel. We'll see. Please review!**


	14. Sorry

**Author's Note: Hey guys, and welcome to the penultimate chapter of Dark Dreams! That is, of course, not counting the epilogue. This might get somewhat long, but we'll see how it goes. Sora, Riku and Kairi are with the Jewel Alliance for the rest of the story, so sorry if things get crowded and your favorite characters don't get as much attention as usual. I'm sorry! Please enjoy this chapter, though!**

* * *

_**Chapter XIV:**_

_Sorry_

**Radiant Garden**

Cora had woken up and fallen asleep multiple times in the waiting period between Sora, Riku and Kairi's visit. They found her with part of _The Secret Circle_ by LJ Smith, almost completely read, by the bedside. At one point she must have had a difficult time going to sleep. "She still breathes heavily when she's sleeping," Sora noted, and Kairi raised her eyebrows in shock; how did he _notice_ these things?

"Getting your heart stolen is serious business," Stash mentioned, pretty much entirely serious, "but I'm still surprised it tired her out so much."

"I wasn't tired at all," Sora said.

"Maybe it's because your heart was mainly light and hers was mainly dark," Riku suggested, "It's funny, because I've been thinking about this for a while. It's funny how it seems that every bad guy we face utilizes the darkness, but it's no different in turn by the light."

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked.

"Light and darkness don't represent good and evil, that's what I mean," Riku replied, "in a way, light brought evil as well. Light and darkness are tools, they aren't the makeup of a person's ethics. You could destroy a world as easily in light as you can in darkness." He paused as they were all silent, "Don't you remember that story Kairi's grandmother told her about the light?"

And then, Riku began to recite the story. "At one point, all worlds were made out of light. Light was the essence of everything. But one day, everyone started to become greedy about the light. They all wanted the light for themselves. Through that greed, darkness was born and consumed everything around them, bit by bit. Everything except the small bit of light in the hearts of children. Children used that light to rebuild worlds and their universe, but think about it- it was the greed for light that created darkness. Light brings evil, too."

"Damn straight," Cora breathed, and they all looked back at her. Riku, at first, seemed pleasantly shock, but as if he was realizing something in the pit of his stomach, his smile became saddened, and he nodded.

"You heard the whole story?"

"My mom used to tell me a story like that one," she admitted, "but it went a little differently."

"Differently?" Umeko asked curiously, this being her firsttime she heard about it, "How so?"

"My story starts differently than yours," she began, although her voice seemed caked and layered from all of the sleep she had gotten, "Half of the worlds began in light, and the other in darkness. They worked in harmony with each other, like yin and yang. They weren't enemies, they were friends. The darkness was powerful, lingering, and electric, and the light was calm, beautiful and artful. They had a symbiotic relationship with each other," she offered, hoping they knew what that meant, "but after a while, the people from the light wanted to try the darkness, and the ones from the darkness craved the light. They crossed over, trying to accept all of their opposite into their hearts, but they were overwhelmed.

"The light side was too used to the light, and the dark was too used to the dark. Darkness consumed the hearts of the light, and light drowned out the hearts of darkness. The adults, too old for their hearts to handle it, didn't survive. The children, however, lived with both darkness and light in their hearts, and became the people we are today, some with more darkness, some with more light, some completely balanced. With their light, they doused out the worlds of darkness, and with the darkness they dimmed the worlds of light, until everything was made of perfect balance."

"It could be anything," Kairi offered after a moment of everyone's letting this soak in, "after all, in my grandmother's story, everything became balanced, too. Everything was dark until the children brought the light out to match it. Now we have some light worlds, some dark worlds, and some inbetween."

"It's a lot to think about," Naminé said, "but it's nothing we'll ever have to worry about."

"We should go," Vice said, standing up from the bedside he was sitting at after a few minutes without movement or speech, "and give Sora, Riku and Kairi some time to catch up with Cora, because fuck, you guys have a lot to catch up on."

They all followed Vice out the door, and Sora told Naminé and Roxas, "We'll catch up with you guys later."

"How are you feeling?" Kairi asked, sitting where Vice had, right next to her.

"A lot better," Cora smiled brightly, "though I'm liking the extra attention."

Sora, Riku and Kairi all looked at each other, grinning as if sharing some secret between them, and looked back. Riku started, "Cora, you seem..." he looked for the right words, "Different than when we last talked."

"Happier," Sora added.

"Kind of like how Umeko described you before you became a keyblade wielder," said Kairi, and Sora and Riku looked at Kairi nervously as if she might have said something wrong.

Cora _giggled_, something they didn't think that they'd ever find the stubborn, science-smart keyblade wielder doing and she waved them off, "I'm sure it's just a side-effect of the heart stealing thing," she joked, "me, anything but serious?"

This time, the other three laughed along with her. "What have you guys been doing?" Cora asked them, and Sora put his hand to his chin.

"Well," he started, "first we went to this place called Rural Woods, and met a dog named Copper and a fox named Tod. Afterward, we went to Aurora's Castle..." his memory of Phil-izzle made him twitch for a moment, and he conveniently left that out of his description, "Then Song's Shimmer and we caught up with Kasa, Dolan and Axel. Then we went to Sleeping Plains and got Maleficent, but Xemnas got away," he scrunched his nose in disgust, "and then we took care of Twilight Town and Traverse Town."

"You three've been busy," Cora smiled, and Sora, growing fond of this new smile, grinned back at her.

"Not as busy as you guys," Kairi started, resting her head in her hands, propped up by her elbows, "we heard _everything_. Back and forth Amber Heights, Pearl Falls and so many others... and Keir, Vaughn and Dallas have all the jewels except for one..."

"'Scuse me?" a voice came, and a figure walked in. Raelyn walked in, her hair slightly darker, maybe from the unusually dim lights of the Radiant Garden Castle, "I was unconscious when it happened, but I heard Cora got her heart stolen..." she paused, and beamed, "Looks like she's okay now, though."

Riku's eyes widened in amazement as he stood up unusually straight, "Raelyn," he breathed, "from the castle. I heard that you were taken by Keir-"

"I'm alright," she said, smiling, "I managed to make it out of their lair, and I took one of their Gummi Ships out of there." They all looked at her in disbelief for a moment, "I'm smarter than I look, okay?" She eyed Riku in particular.

Riku felt an unnecessary and embarrassing heat rush to his face, and he nodded quickly, turning back towards Cora. Cora quickly introduced them all, "That's Sora, Kairi, and Riku," she pointed out, pointing to them all individually.

Riku was the first one to pivot over to her and hold out her hand to shake it. Raelyn just laughed and gave him a high five before pounding her fist against his, and sitting down on Cora's bed. "Nice to meet you all. So what are we talking about?" she asked, looking at the girl. Cora seemed slightly flushed, but she looked rather healthy.

"We were talking about how Keir, Vaughn and Dallas have all the jewels," Kairi answered.

"All of them except one, right?" Raelyn asked.

"Yeah," Sora said, his eyes wide, "how did you know?"

Raelyn was playing with the collar of her shirt. "Donald told me," she stated a bit quickly, "I am his best apprentice, after all. At least, I will be once I can get back to my job. I just wanted to check on the Jewel Alliance first."

Cora laughed, "I'm glad." Her eyes drifted up to Raelyn's hair, which had an odd, black device-looking headband on it. "When did you get that?" she asked, extremely confused. The boyish Raelyn didn't seem like the kind of person to wear a headband.

Raelyn's cheeks flushed slightly, and Riku let out an almost slightly noticeable sigh. "A friend," was all she said, smiling calmly.

The five of them talked for quite some time, usually about nothing at all. It amused and deeply comforted Cora to see Riku and Raelyn looking at each other often, Riku with an extremely uncharacteristic, goofy look on his face, not the same protective one that he had constantly given Cora.

"Your stories seem so cool," Raelyn finally said after at least an hour of talking. "I wish I had more stuff like that to talk about, but I pretty much went straight to training with Donald after my sister was taken by the Heartless. I wanted to learn how to protect myself, and that's been it. Donald infuriates me sometimes, though," she admitted, "it seems like no matter how hard I work, I'm not good enough to be a mage. Like I'm missing something."

"Donald's just like that," Sora assured her, "he doesn't like to think that anyone might be better than him. Hell, you probably could be better than him, if you've been training for _that_ long. Maybe good enough to help us protect the fifth jewel."

Raelyn looked interested, "but it's in Vice's heart, isn't it? Shouldn't his... skin be protection enough?"

Cora, to her surprise, laughed, "But the funny thing is, the opal of Radiant Garden isn't in Vice's heart at all. Well, not technically. It's in my locket." She lifted the small, golden object

"Cora!" a voice shouted, interrupting them. The dirty blonde, Umeko ran in the room, panting. "Keir, Vaughn and Dallas. All three of them are here. We could use your help too, Raelyn," she stated, looking at the tomboy. Raelyn just looked back at her, as if unsure of how to respond, "but they've got those jewels, so they'll be hard to stop. I think they want the opal."

Cora's hand gripped her locket like a vice. **Author's Note: Unintended pun.** "Let's go," she nodded at them, pulling herself out of bed. Being well-rested must have really done some good for her health. Cora, Riku, Sora and Kairi rushed out of the room, but Raelyn looked darkly at her feet. "Bad timing, guys..." she mumbled.

"Raelyn? Aren'tcha coming?" Sora asked, poking his head back in the room. Raelyn nodded and pulled out her snakelike staff, rushing out of the room to follow them down the stairs and out the door.

* * *

The others were already waiting- Vice, Coy, Jocasta and Stash, the whole Jewel Alliance minus King Mickey, along with Naminé, Roxas and Umeko. Standing almost directly in front of them were Vice, Keir and Dallas.

"Looking for the opal, huh?" Vice asked smoothly, practically floating a few steps over. He seemed to stop being intimidated by these three.

Keir, who was in the middle of the three as usual and not looking to be in the mood to fight, grinned maliciously and looked behind the prince of the Radiant Garden to another figure standing in the group, "Raelyn, did you get the info?" he asked casually. Every head turned towards the girl.

Raelyn nodded lazily after putting her hands in her pockets and walking up to the three. "It's in her locket."

"I knew Vice would be vague when telling Cora last year. It was a good idea to double-check against Oki's 'memories'," Vaughn admitted, smiling curtly at the eleven others, all in a group and gripping their weapons menacingly.

"_Raelyn!_" Cora called, almost like a mother scolding a daughter. She backed up a pace, the look of horror unmistakable. Her hand covered the small golden heart at the end of the chain around her neck, and she shook her head. "I should have known that you'd have done something so low," she looked over at Keir, "using a friend to get information."

"What makes you so sure she didn't come with us willingly?" Keir asked them.

Dallas, the one-word wonder, spoke, "It _is_ obvious." **Author's Note: He's quite a bit like Fuu, isn't he?** Grinning wryly, he did something that it took Cora a moment to figure out as Raelyn walked to stand next to the three- he scratched the top of his head.

"The headband," Riku was the one to say out loud. He seemed relieved, but at the same time, extremely hurt.

"Bin-go," Vaughn said in singsong, causing the others to laugh.

"There's no _way_ you're getting the locket," Cora said, her eyes slitting.

"You'll have to go through _us_," Coy stated, walking in front of Cora with Umeko.

"Gladly," Dallas smiled, and created a barrier somehow. Stuck inside of the barrier were Naminé, Roxas, Coy and Umeko. To mirror him, Keir created a barrier, trapping Stash, Jocasta and Sora. Raelyn picked up Riku, Kairi and Vice. Stuck alone in a barrier with the deadly looking Vaughn was Cora.

* * *

**Vaughn's Barrier**

"All alone again, are you, Cora?" Vaughn asked, cackling like a witch. He was scarier than most of the bitches that had gone to Cora's high school, that was, back when all the keyblade business hadn't given her something _else_ to do with her life. "Poor, poor Cora. Let's make it easy on both of us," he suggested, pointing Lethal Valentine at the girl, "hand it over now and I'll kill you quick, 'kay doll?"

Cora, her eyes narrowed, ran up with Ether Essence and tripped him with her keyblade, hacking on him a few more times as he fell down. He was entirely stunned when he looked up at her, obviously shocked that, for once, his comments didn't get to her. "Don't call me," she started, then blew a lock of reddish brown hair out of her face, "_doll_." **Author's Note: I totally stole that from Babs from Space Jam. xD**

"No more games," he muttered, pushing himself up, and then pulled out the small emerald he had stolen, grinning. "Persistence. The emerald stands for persistence. It'll take a lot to tire me out," he grinned, and shoved it back in his pocket, rushing at her with the short-reach Lethal Valentine.

As this keyblade clashed with Ether Essence, pink, purple and blue sparks seemed to fly. It amused Cora sometimes how certain keyblades reacted with others, but it would only make the battle that much more interesting- that and Cora's determination to not let them retrieve the locket. The emerald was doing its job, however- it seemed that, no matter what, Vaughn wasn't slowing down in the slightest.

Cora thought for a moment, blocking another one of Vaughn's attacks. What power was it that the opal had? _Strength._ After knocking Vaughn away once, she yanked open the small locket and let the tiny jewel fall in her hand- it was so much more _gorgeous_ than she imagined. The gem was a pale white, but in the sun it shone almost every color of the rainbow.

Stuffing it in her pocket, she tried her hardest to utilize the power. Vaughn was just barely managing to stand- the way his eyes were closed and he was motionless almost made her think that he was knocked out. Had he seen her move the locket? Vaughn was, finally, rushing back over towards her. "Think, think..." she muttered, and it seemed that after a moment of concentration, when she brought her keyblade back down on Vaughn, she heard a bone crunch; Cora _broke his shoulder_. "Opal," she sighed, happily.

* * *

**Dallas's Barrier**

This fight seemed to be more of Umeko's than anybody. Once she changed into her anti-form, it seemed she was the only one that Dallas faced. Although he had the sapphire of defense, the dark scars she was giving him cut deep. Dallas lunged forward with Poison Sea and cut her arm, but the darkness around her healed it almost instantaneously.

"Damn," Dallas murmured, and swiped with Poison Sea again, but Umeko dipped into the shadows beneath her and arrived at his back, and clawed him forward. Dallas swung backwards, not letting himself falter, and hit her backwards with his keyblade.

"People with hearts as light as yours shouldn't be allowed to utilize the darkness," he mumbled as she returned and her arm clashed with the keyblade.

"Something tells me the strength of light would surprise you," Umeko offered.

"Light is _weak_," he said, his tone not open for debate, but Roxas had snuck up behind him and hit him on the head with Oblivion and Oathkeeper, sending him down to the ground.

"Sure," Roxas said, "but keyblades aren't."

Dallas moved to stand again- if he didn't have the sapphire with him, the one that utilized defense, he would probably have been knocked unconscious from that move. Poison Sea blocked another blow from Oathkeeper and Oblivion, but he was hit from the back by Umeko in her anti-form. He kicked backwards, sending Umeko back.

This infuriated Coy. Coy, who had been standing in the background for too long. "You stay away from her!" he finally shouted, and wielding his daggers, he went up and began to clash with Poison Sea along with Naminé, who had rushed up with Oathbreaker to help block attacks, and they even managed to damage him despite his defense.

* * *

**Keir's Barrier**

"It's almost too bad that you two can't work together," Keir laughed, using his amber stone to its full advantage, dodging almost every single attack that Jocasta, Stash and Sora threw at him. "Maybe then, just maybe you'd be able to get a hit in." Keir's tone was mocking as usual, and they should have ignored it.

But Sora didn't.

"He's right," Sora said, "Look, with your sun staff, your water sword and my keyblade, we could fill the barrier with magic," he decided. Jocasta and Stash looked at each other, gasping from the fight. Keir was running circles around them, having the time of his life.

"I'm not working with that gambling lunatic," Jocasta said.

"And I'm not working with that hyper _fish_," Stash stated, glaring at the princess of Pearl Falls. In fact, they were both glaring at each other.

"Then we'll never beat Keir," Sora told them. For a moment, Stash and Jocasta considered, looking back at each other and finally, it seemed, they both looked back at Sora and nodded. They put their weapons in the center.

"One big blast," Sora shouted, "After three. One, two, three... Firaga!"

Sora shouted his spell at the same time as Jocasta shouted, "Blizzaga" and Stash yelled, "Pearl!" In a huge swirl of fire, blizzard, and light, the entire barrier began to fill with the magic, not before Sora cast an Aeraga on the three of them. Keir screamed, and fell in place.

The three did not hesitate to run up and hit him even when he was being destroyed by the magic, especially the light- he was still a Heartless, after all.

* * *

**Raelyn's Barrier**

"Raelyn, why?" Riku asked, looking genuinely hurt. He had only spoken with her for an hour tops, but he had become so _close_ to her and it killed him to see her on the other side. For Riku, she had something that Cora didn't, but he couldn't quite tell what it was yet.

"Riku, no!" Kairi yelled back at him, but he barely twitched his head, "She's under their control by that device on her head. You've got to get rid of it!" Kairi was pointing at Raelyn's headband. Since she had her job done, she seemed to be almost like a zombie, working on autopilot. She said nothing.

"Wait," he told them, and as they moved towards her, they looked at Vice. "she has the ruby, it's on her wrist," he motioned to a bracelet on her wrist where the small ruby, entirely out of place, was. "The ruby's magic. Strong magic, and unlimited."

"Firaga!" she shouted before the rest of them could react. Riku was the closest and the one whose vest was seared practically off his body. No longer could they sit back and decide what they wanted to do; he had to get the headband. If he could do that, then they wouldn't have to worry about losing the emerald.

"Agh!" Riku shouted, with much pain, bringing down Way to Dawn. As it collided with her Snake Staff, she felt another keyblade at her side, which was Kairi's Destiny Blade. Raelyn fell to the ground, but pushed herself up with an Aeraga and sent a Thundaga down.

Although Riku and Kairi were damaged, Vice managed to avoid it. With speed comparable to the amber stone's, he rushed up to her, about seven feet away, and threw his dark chakrams at the girl. The first one, she reflected back with her staff, but the second one hit her square in the stomach, and she fell back.

"A little longer," Kairi gasped, out of breath already from the fight, "just a little longer."

* * *

**Vaughn's Barrier**

Vaughn cried out in agony from the broken shoulder, and didn't give Cora a chance to use her opal again. He was about fifteen feet away when he pulled out a small rose, still on the stem. With the precision of an archer, he flicked it like a boomerang. The flower pulled the locket off of her neck, breaking the chain, and returned it to him.

"Close, but no cigar," he laughed, and the barrier around him disappeared as well as the barriers around them. "I've got it," he called to the others. Keir, Dallas and Raelyn didn't need to be told twice- in seconds, Keir's darkness got rid of them, returning to wherever their new lair was; Raelyn had never told them.

"We never got that headband off of her," Riku mumbled, still in shock.

"Fuck that," Vice complained, looking over at Riku. The entire group reassembled. "They've got all five jewels now. It's over."

Cora smield, and everyone looked at her in disbelief. She pulled the small, glittering rainbow of a gemstone out of her pocket. "Not quite."

Vice, uncharacteristically still, let a smile tug at the corner of his lips. "Cora, I love you."

"I know," Cora said, proud of herself, and handed the opal over to Vice.

"So they didn't get the opal," came a voice that seemed to be coming from the _roof_ of the castle. Standing atop of the highest point was Xemnas. What was with that man and speaking at them from a higher place? "The fools."

Sora was the first to pull out Ultima and step in front of the group, glaring. "Xemnas."

"The one and only," he responded, looking back down at them.

**Author's Note: That's a good place to end it. Plus, my hands are cramping up. I hope you guys liked this chapter; I was pretty proud of it. I feel bad for speeding up Raelyn's relationship with Cora, Sora, Riku and Kairi, but I tried to pass as much time as possible with them together. Plus, if you count since they first met her... it has been a while. Please review!**


	15. Whether Mice or Men Have Second Tries

**Author's Note: Wow, wow, wow, the last technical chapter. I've got many ideas for this, so I hope you like it. I'll post an epilogue of course. And a warning, the final battle(s) may not be much of a battle because, like I said in the first chapter, this fanfiction is more psychological than anything, but we'll see. Please read and review!**

**Long-needed disclaimer: It's twelve forty-five in the morning. I'm too tired to come up with a cute way of saying this. I don't own Kingdom Hearts.**

* * *

_**Chapter XV:**_

_Whether Mice or Men Have Second Tries_

**Radiant Garden; Rising Falls**

Xemnas looked like he had just won a medal, and nobody could quite tell why. "It seems the boys didn't quite carry out there tasks. It feels like I'm always the one picking up their leftover garbage." He sneered at something past the group, but his gaze did eventually find Sora and the others again.

"What do you mean by that, Xemnas?" Sora asked angrily, "We've seen you maybe once or twice since we learned you were behind this. You've been hiding behind Keir, Vaughn and Dallas this entire time!"

"Their leftover garbage," he repeated, "was mostly the plans. But I could mention a certain Nobody," he began, and Naminé and Roxas stiffened, "that was recently born because he took the heart of a certain brown-eyed girl." Every head turned towards Cora momentarily, "Of course, I couldn't imagine why she's not a _Heartless_ at this very moment."

"Xemnas," Sora spat, "so mechanical. I don't even blame that on your being a Nobody. Naminé and Roxas... at least they can think outside the box. I didn't think that was totally impossible for you." Xemnas jumped off of the roof and landed on all fours, standing up to meet Sora in the eye.

"None of this is any matter," Xemnas began quickly but said slowly, "because by the time I'm through with you, Keir, Vaughn, Dallas and their new pet, that Raelyn, they will have noticed that you tricked them and will be back. I'll just have to hand them the opal personally," he glanced at Xemnas.

"You'll have to get through me before you can even think about getting to that opal," Sora shouted, and looked behind him. Riku, Kairi, Naminé and Roxas all rushed up as well, "Them, too," he finished.

"The job before the payment. Of course," Xemnas began, and pulled out his aerial waves.

"Let's go," Vice murmured to Cora, pulling her arm.

"What?" Cora asked, a little peeved, "We have to stay here and help him!"

"No, Cora," Jocasta said softly, a contrast to Vice's urgency, "he did that to stall Xemnas so we could go get Keir, Vaughn, Dallas and Raelyn before they realize that they don't have the opal," she smiled at her, though her voice did have urgency.

"Yeeup," Stash said, a little cooler, "and if we don't get going now..."

"I get it," Cora nodded, and ran back with the rest of them. Xemnas seemed to be too wrapped up in the fight with Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas and Naminé to be able to tell. Umeko lingered for a while, glancing down and up at Shark Attack, wondering if she should stay and fight with them. She shook her head and followed Vice- something just felt right about sticking with that group. After all, she and Cora were pretty much honorary members of the Jewel Alliance.

It was no wonder that Xemnas was wearing his white and black robe still, the one that they had initially destroyed him in before Hades revived him. He still believed that nothingness was eternal, which he had proof for now. Who was to say that Hades couldn't just pull him out of the darkness and revive him into a humanoid form again?

But _why would he_? He was no longer under Cora's command anymore, that was for sure, but that wasn't the point of the battle.

"Kairi," Xemnas laughed as his left aerial blade clashed with Destiny Blade, "don't you ever think that you're slowing Riku and Sora down?"

Kairi gasped- that was _impossible_, she decided, and knocked the first aerial blade backwards, spun around on the ball of her right foot and knocked the other one back. With the open space, she jumped out of the way so Riku could thrust Way to Dawn at the man. Xemnas cried out, but the battle was far from over.

"Roxas!" Naminé shouted, jumping high and over Xemnas, and threw Oathbreaker at Roxas. Oblivion disappeared, and he held both Oathbreaker and Oathkeeper, and rushed at Xemnas, who was once again open for attack from another one of Kairi and Riku's distractions. He was injured quite badly from this move; as Roxas threw Oathbreaker back to Naminé, Oblivion appeared back in his hand.

"Why don't you vanish?" Xemnas asked, although the annoyed line did not match his tone of voice. Out of his aerial blades, many shots began to appear around them. Sora and Riku immediately knew what to do, though it took Kairi, Naminé and Roxas a moment to realize that they were supposed to deflect them.

This seemed to last forever.

* * *

**Nothing's Daybreak**

"Are you sure this is the place?" Cora asked Umeko, who had flown there, glancing up and down. She had never seen such a world; the sky was a rich dark blue and the stars weren't all white, but they each had their own individual color. No houses lined the area they were in, but presences of darkness seemed to be rheuminating in the place.

"It's gotta be," Umeko responded, "I've never seen this world, ever until now."

"Now that I think about it," Coy said, and everyone looked at the usually quiet boy, "I think I remember hearing something about this world when I was a kid. It's supposed to be the only world that has a clear view of every single other world in the sky." At that, he looked up; for a moment, he thought he could see...

"Eventide Mountains," Umeko breathed, looking up at her year-long home. The shape of the world, the star, was obvious. **Author's Note: If you remember correctly, every time a star went out it meant that a world had been destroyed.** "And Twilight Town," she pointed out, sighing. If they weren't all so afraid, it would have been beautiful.

"That means they need a perfect view of the worlds to use the jewels?" Cora asked.

Jocasta nodded, "That has to be it."

"This world had fallen into the darkness a long time ago. They must have restored it so that they could use the jewels. If they restored it any eariler, we would have seen it and sent it back to wherever it came from, wouldn't we?"

There was silence. "I think Keir, Vaughn and Dallas overestimate us," Stash finally said, and everybody around him laughed, except for Vice, who was much too focused.

"We have to get going," he urged them, "we don't have much time."

They walked forward for at least five minutes, and all of the scenery was the same, until they found themselves facing a small altar of some sort. Marble of different colors and unique designs of the Heartless symbol, Nobody symbol, the sun, the moon and the stars decorated the altar. The small table in the center was made out of white gold. There seemed to be an exact geometry to the place that Cora couldn't figure out.

"It's _gone_," Vaughn hissed, "no, it was never _there_," he finished, looking angrily at the locket as if it had betrayed him. They were all facing the opposite direction of the altar, so all Vice and the group could see were their backs. They could see clearly, however, Vice throwing down the locket onto the ground and grinding it onto the altar with his foot. It looked relatively undamaged, except for one small crack through the center.

"That damn former princess still has it," Keri growled, "we have to go back." It was then that the group realized that Raelyn was no longer in the group with them. Where could she be, Vice wondered.

Vaughn, Keir and Dallas all turned around. It was almost comical to watch their facial expressions, as they were completely identical. At first, they were calm. The second was shock. Third was some sort of a satisfaction that made the hair on Cora's neck raise. "Come here to bring the locket to us?" Vaughn asked, miming throwing a boomerang at Cora, and Cora's fists clenched so hard that she could feel her fingernails digging into her palms.

"Why are you _doing_ this, all for power?" Cora asked, staring directly at Keir. At first he seemed shocked, but then he smiled.

"I see why you're so comfortable with asking me that question. When I stole your heart, you must have had some kind of a connection with me."

"Wrong," Cora said, so fast and so sharply that she not only shocked Keir, Vaughn and Dallas, but she also surprised Vice, Stash, Jocasta, Coy and Umeko. "It's a thing called empathy, something I've had the fortune to be blessed with. All you three have is each other and five damn jewels. I hope you're happy."

Keir's eyes reduced themselves to slits. Darkness began pooling around him, Vaughn and Dallas. Why was there darkness around them? "As a fucking clam," Keir shouted back, a little too enthusiastic for his own good.

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

Xemnas was faltering, that much was true. He didn't have the emerald of persistence, but he may as well have had it, as it seemed that he didn't tire out until the very end of the battle. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas and Naminé had dealt with Xemnas too many times in the past to have lost the battle.

Xemnas, after just being hit with Oathbreaker, fell to his hands and knees, but he was chuckling. Small bits of him began to fade into darkness. "Look behind you," he coughed, and although the group thought for a moment that he was tricking them, when they looked behind themselves, they saw Raelyn.

She was different somehow. The girl was wearing armor and her snake staff seemed longer and sharper at the top. She wasn't smiling or exchanging any kind of communication, she just stood still like a soldier ready to fight. "See that armor?" Xemnas asked, "A special armor I made myself."

"What's a little armor gonna...?" Sora began, but then gasped as he saw what happened to Xemnas. The body, which was slowly fading away, began to move. Some odd substance of the man seemed to make its way to the girl. She seemed in pain as her black, mechanical-looking headband absorbed this bright, red light, but when she opened her eyes, they had gone from the beautiful emerald to the piercing, golden color.

This time, Raelyn smiled. As she spoke, her voice showed out, but also the voice of Xehanort's Nobody at the same exact time. "Do you see?" Raelyn asked, "Some of my research has had success. The transfer of pure power, pure energy, pure _person_ to another person... Whether it be hers or yours, I will have a heart, and I will rule this pathetic universe!"

Riku seemed to understand it before anyone else- destroy the headband, destroy Xemnas.

"Raelyn," he mumbled before he rushed forward with Way to Dawn, "I'm sorry."

* * *

**Nothing's Daybreak**

The three were edging towards the group. Why were they always so intimidating? Umeko sighed and backed up a step, trying to rationally think of the situation. It was practically impossible for them to fight them when the three boys had the jewels. What could they do?

_And yet, you will be the one to bring the three doomed Wielders to the light._

That was what the disembodied voice had said in her dream. But it was just a _dream_, could she believe it. "Maybe..." she muttered, although she seemed to only be stuttering to herself to the others. _How can I... bring them to the light?_ she asked herself. Vaughn lifted his keyblade when it hit her- to bring the keyblade wielders to the light, you have to get rid of some of their darkness.

"Umeko, watch out!" Cora shouted, and Umeko rolled to the side, dodging a hit from Lethal Valentine. As she rolled out of the way, she shifted into her anti-form and slashed at him from the side, making him hiss in pain.

Cora, in the meantime, had just been knocked down by Poison Sea. Dallas's foot was on her throat, and he scanned her up and down quickly, looking for the opal. Seeing a small bulge in her pocket, he smiled. Whipping Poison Sea, he sent her flying backwards again, and the opal flying in the air. He caught it.

"_No_!" Umeko hissed, and all three boys looked at her. Her voice was different, there was a whole different _air_ about her. The darkness surrounding the boys was growing substantially. It was going to swallow them up if she didn't think, and fast.

Finally, she understood. Just like the memories Naminé had to place of Cora's, the darkness needed a place to be kept, just like Cora's heart had gone when she turned into a Heartless. She dodge rolled out of the way and onto the alter. Picking up the slightly cracked locket, she rolled back to them and put out her hand, willing herself to absorb the darkness.

Umeko couldn't describe what happened next if she tried. The darkness was overwhelming, almost strong enough for her to drop the locket. If she wasn't in her anti-form, it would probably have been impossible. Unlike her anti-form, which could be controlled, the darkness from the boys threatened to destroy every fiber of her being.

Somehow, however, she managed to suck up all of thedarkness. Unfortuantely for Keir, he was made entirely of darkness, being a Heartless. His entire body was sucked up, and what was the scariest about it was that he was _smiling_. Vice, Cora, Umeko, Stash, Jocasta and Coy would never forget his last words.

"It's about time. Thank you."

Whatever little bit of light had been left in Keir had been released somewhere, maybe to be the shred of light that the children found in themselves that could rebuild a world. Anything was possible. Dallas and Vaughn, however, lay practically comatose by the altar.

"What..." Dallas rubbed his eyes, which suddenly seemed brighter and much more beautiful, "Where am I? What happened?" he asked. Vaughn seemed to be asking himself the same thing.

"Nothing," Vice, surprisingly enough to everyone else, was the one to say. "We'll tell you all about it in the Gummi Ship."

Umeko, gasping, took the locket and placed it in the center of the altar on the small table. "Good job," Cora said, her eyes widening, "how did you know to do that?"

Umeko shrugged. "That thing could hold an all powerful gem, your heart, a spell and nobody could ever guess what else, so I decided to try." She paused. "But... I almost feel _bad_ for Keir. Actually, I do."

"I know what you mean," Cora said soothingly, "but the real Keir's up there somewhere," she smiled at the sky. Maybe it was just their imaginations, but the two girls could swear that the sky was one star brighter.

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

By the time the Jewel Alliance had made it back to Radiant Garden, Xemnas was gone, but Sora, Riku, Kairi, Naminé and Roxas were fighting Raelyn, who seemed to have some sort of a tricked-out armor, and her eyes were golden.

They must have just made it for the end of the fight, because Riku jumped up, caught her off-guard and pulled a small, black headband off of her head. The girl blinked lazily as if she had been sleeping, but fell forward, comatose. Riku caught her.

"How'd it go?" Sora asked, as casual as ever.

"Why don't you ask Dallas and Vaughn?" Cora asked them, smiling. Halfway through their Gummi Ship ride back they had remembered, but they only remembered it like a dream- no, they remembered it like a nightmare. Still, they had sat in silence when they realized that Keir was no longer among them.

"You have a lot to tell us about, I see," Kairi laughed. Even Dallas and Vaughn managed a smile back at her.

The next five minutes passed in a blur, but similar to earlier in their journey, the group sat in the Rising Falls, watching the water go upwards and listening to the splashing. Without darkness surrounding it, Radiant Garden was extremely beautiful. "So..." Umeko asked, "what are you all going to do now?"

"We'll stick around int he castle, if that's okay," Naminé asked, motioning to Roxas.

"Fine with me," Vice smiled, stretching, "you two proved yourselves today. Me? I think I'm pretty cut out for this whole royalty thing."

"And you two?" Umeko asked, looking at Jocasta and Stash.

"We talked this over earlier. I think we learned today..." Jocasta started.

"That we really can work together," Stash finished.

"So we're going to rebuild one giant world as king and queen," Jocasta stated, smiling. "I wouldn't mind being with Stash."

"Plus, Jocasta's hot. Ow!" he shouted, feeling a hand hitting his arm.

"Ruin the moment," Jocasta crossed her arms, "but we still don't have any citizens to rule over."

"Oh, I beg to differ," Sora said, grinning. Riku and Kairi, the two knowing ones who had heard about Meridian Orchard, snickered. "We're just going to go back to Destiny Islands, I guess," he said, once he realized it was his turn, "not much else _to_ do."

"I'm going back to Eventide Mountains with Coy," Umeko said, answering her own question, "I still have dog walking duties." The group laughed, then looked at Dallas and Vaughn, who didn't seem quite sure.

"Whatever the new world is with Pearl Falls and Amber Heights, I'll go to," Dallas decided, "I don't have another home, anyway. Vaughn?"

"I'll go, too, if I get to open a flower shop," he added excitedly. Who would have known that the Vaughn-with-less-darkness would have been into botany. Maybe it was his flowery keyblade and scary resemblance to Marluxia. Nobody asked Raelyn, because she was still out cold. She was breathing, however, which was good.

"Cora?" Umeko asked.

Cora was silent for a moment. "My Nobody's out there somewhere," she muttered, "and ever since my heart was stolen, even though I got it back, I feel... empty. I'd like to go find it, but it's more of a solo thing and I've got a promise to keep."

"If I were you," Vice said, before half of the group got a chance to process what she had said, "I would break the promise." Cora looked at him with wide, confused eyes, "There are some things that are more important. Besides, look at the loopholes. Never did it say that we had to stick together for one consecutive year."

Cora smiled, looking at her feet. "Thank you," she whispered, "so, I'm going on a journey to find my Nobody."

"One more promise," Vice commanded, putting up his right pinky again, and Cora looked back up at him, "promise that no matter where you end up, you'll come back here, to Radiant Garden. And I'll promise to help you in any way possible."

"I think that's a promise we both can keep," Cora agreed, latching her right pinky onto his.

"Are you sure you don't want us to go?" Umeko asked, referring to the Jewel Alliance.

"I really have to do this alone," she decided, nodding. "I'll come and visit as often as possible, I promise."

"Even us?" Dallas asked, and the group laughed; they laughed like teenagers.

"Yeah," Cora said, nodding, "even you."

For a moment, all of them were silent as they looked forward and watched the sun rise.

**Author's Note: Aww, I was pretty pleased with this chapter, even though I did rush a lot. I'll be posting an epilogue in a day or two, I'll be pretty busy tomorrow, so we'll see. I hope you liked it, please review!**


	16. Epilogue

**Author's Note: Aww, the epilogue. It's probably going to be very short, but I think that's expected out of an epilogue. I don't have much to say for this Authors Note (Crowd cheers) so I'll leave you with a please read and review!**

* * *

_**Chapter XVI:**_

_Epilogue_

It had been so long since Cora was at Twilight Town. It felt like two weeks at most to her, but a year could really change the place. The small house that she had bought with the munny the Heartless and Nobodies dropped was the exact same way that Cora left it- it even still smelled like her, which she realized did, in fact, smell like Amber Heights.

"Where to start...?" Cora asked herself, looking at everything that Naminé hadn't packed for her the year before. Most of the clothes she probably couldn't fit into anymore, but many of the items with sentimental value she would feel lost without. It was just a lot to go through; she didn't know how long the journey might take.

"Hey," a voice came from the door. Cora smiled brightly, recognizing the voice and turned around. The two girls greeted each other with a hug, and Umeko stretched. It seemed like for once in a long time, she had gotten a good night's sleep. "You need help packing?"

"Yeah," Cora said truthfully, and laughed, inviting Umeko in. "You know, this has been bothering me for a long time," she started, and Umeko looked up from where she was searching, "by a long time, I mean since last night." The two girls laughed again, "Your heart's mainly made up of light. Wasn't it hard to deal with all that darkness rushing at you?"

"Kind of," Umeko admitted, "but I think it gave me a better idea of how to handle the darkness. I just hope I never have to use it again."

Cora nodded her head in agreement. "It's not fun," she admitted, "sometimes I wish that my heart wasn't mostly made up of darkness. Maybe I'd be able to handle living in this damn realm better. Everything's sort of painful here," she admitted, sighing. "But my friends are my light, and that's all I need."

Umeko nodded, and for a moment, they packed in silence, devoted on getting everything they needed into Cora's backpack. It wasn't long before everything was fit in there, and the weight of the backpack could probably break her back.

"C'mon," Umeko said somberly now, "I'll walk you outside. And you promise to visit me at Eventide Mountains as often as possible?"

"Of course," Cora replied, and they stepped outside to see yet another familiar face: Vice.

"Didn't think I'd let you leave without saying goodbye, did you?" Vice asked, but not before smiling to himself lightly.

"Maybe," Cora admitted, smiling widely.

Vice's smile even widened at that. "If you thought that I liked you back when you were serious all the time, I don't think you've got a clue now." At that, Cora turned away slightly willing, with failure, the blood to not rush to her cheeks.

Umeko had to sidestep out of the way for Vice to walk up to her and hug her, not differently when he had done so at the courtyard in Radiant Garden. Cora huged him back, and rested her chin on his shoulder. "I'll be back in no time," she assured him, "she's my Nobody. Something tells me she'll be easy to find."

Vice nodded again, and then pulled away. With a quick brush of a kiss on the lips, he rendered Cora both confused as to what just happened and embarrassed even further. "Jocasta and Stash got you something," he mentioned offhandedly, and walked forward, as always, expecting them to follow.

He led them to the back of Cora's small hut of a house, where a small, new indigo Gummi Ship was lying. "It's a little old, but it's reliable and built for four. It's called the Neon." Cora was immediately wide-eyed as she walked up to the ship and put her hand on the side of it. She turned towards them, and Vice threw her the keys.

"Try not to get a new best friend when you're gone!" Umeko called.

"I won't, I promise that," Cora laughed, waving. Vice opened his mouth to say something, but shook it, and simply waved. Cora stepped into the Neon, and for a few moments there was silence until the engine revved up and it ascended into the air.

"You never said goodbye," Umeko mentioned, remembering Vice's greeting to her.

Vice nodded, his eyes not off of the sky quite yet, "I know."

Umeko and Vice then returned to Eventide Mountains and Radiant Garden. The people of Eventide Mountains were still in a bit of a scare, but they calmed down instantaneously when they found their mysteriously disappearing prince and 'Princess Umeko', as they so lovingly called her, return there.

The servants had kept the royal house in good shape, especially after Vaughn practically destroyed it retrieving the emerald. The emerald, ruby, sapphire, amber and opal were all safely returned to their castles, put in a security that not even a keyblade could open.

Umeko, as usual, was extremely comfortable living in a royal house and around such beautiful scenery. She often made trips to Sunset Summit just to see the sun, frozen on the horizon. She would even make some of Coy's dogs stay still as she did this and, eventually, they learned to let her be.

Coy, in the meantime, was being pressured by his people and adviser to find a bride. A bride... the word never crossed his mind, but he shuffled uncomfortably in his chair when Umeko was the first image to pop up for that. It was too early for either of them, he decided, and jokingly said 'may as well just call me king now and call it a day'. Still, he was seriously considering.

The Radiant Garden hadn't seen a Nobody or a Heartless since Vaughn, Keir and Dallas were defeated. The entire world didn't seem to have a hard time keeping itself in order, so most of Vice's job consisted of sunbathing in front of a window or dealing with trade from other worlds. Naminé and Roxas were perfectly comfortable in the castle still- they even got their own wing of the castle to furnish and live in.

Sora, before he, Riku and Kairi could go back to Destiny Islands, however, had to take care of some unfinished business, "People of Meridian Orchard," Sora called over the crowd, still hanging around in Traverse Town and trying to sound important, "I've found you all a home not too far from here. The world is called Amber Pearls, ruled by King Stash and Queen Jocasta. It's a newly combined world, and all of their citizens were destroyed during the battle for the jewels. If any of you are interested..."

All of the people of Meridan Orchard were rushing towards the Gummi Ships that were lined up for them, Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn, who had agreed to help out, would be flying them there. "Whoa, slow down!" Riku shouted towards the crowd. Raelyn couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips when she saw all of the people rushing in.

It wasn't long at all until they made it to Amber Pearls. Jocasta and Stash had fixed the world up completely- they pushed their two worlds close enough with some odd device that the people of Pearl Falls created so that their gravitational pull brought them towards each other, and they combined.

The entire world was beautiful- not only was it lined with long and deep lakes, but mountains lined every corner of the place. Most of the world was colored the warm colors of Amber Heights, but on all of the rock walls that had made up Amber Heights were blue jewels encrusted in the walls. It seemed that finally, after a century-long war, it would all be over.

The new citizens of Amber Pearls were educated in the traditions of both Amber Heights and Pearl Falls, getting the best of both worlds. Some families took in more of Amber Heights's traditions, and some more of Pearl Falls, but everyone generally got along and they lived for a long time in peace. This included Dallas, who spent most of his time in the water, and Vaughn, who opened a flower shop.

Sora, Riku and Kairi returned to Destiny Islands. It wasn't long- maybe a week- before Raelyn joined them, Donald finally deeming her strong enough to become a full-fledged mage. It killed his ego, but it satisfied Raelyn. Riku, of course, had no problem with her staying in that world at all. She even began to go to school with them, although it took them a while to be able to convince the school to let Raelyn in. **Author's Note: I don't see why I still make them bother going to school. What with saving the world, everything would be given to them... xD**

Sora, one time, sitting on his porch in front of his house, angrily stared at his right hand, flicking his wrist every now and then. Kairi, who had been walking to his house, laughed and sat down next to him. "What are you doing?" she asked her boyfriend.

"Trying to call Ultima," he said, not breaking concentration.

Kairi's brow furrowed, "There's no danger, Sora, you can't."

"I know," he said, "but my hand feels really empty, like there's less of a weight there."

"I feel the same," Kairi whispered, shuffling her feet together. "I wouldn't worry. Seems like the keyblade master's job is never done," she said, laughing and Sora brought his face up, relaxed it and smiled again, kissing her briefly.

"I give it a week," Riku said, walking up to them, surprising the both of them. Raelyn was next to him, her hair recently trimmed so it was back to her boy cut.

"A month," Kairi said, nodding.

"Dude, I give it 'till next year," Raelyn said, "there's always a one-year time period, huh?"

"I agree with Raelyn," Sora laughed, "at least this time we didn't forget about Xemnas. Speaking of Xemnas, where did you put that headband, Riku?" Sora asked, never quite getting that information out of him.

"Burned it," he said, with a little bit of a shudder, "I don't think Xemnas is coming back any time soon."

The four of them sat there for hours, smiling and laughing. Raelyn was just as much of a member of the group as Sora, Riku and Kairi were, and they always had something to talk about. Any more trouble _could_ come too soon.

Cora, in the meantime, began her long journey in search for her Nobody. Frequently she would stop at Eventide Mountains, Amber Pearls, Destiny Islands and Radiant Garden to visit with everybody. One world in particular that she frequently visited was Nothing's Daybreak, but to no luck. The entire world, except for the area with the altar, was abandoned. Of course, that was the area that attracted Cora's attention.

She walked over to the altar, to the small table in the middle. Covered with a thin layer of dust was the locket Vice had given here, cracked down the middle. She picked up the small necklace and ran her hand over it, getting rid of the dust, before setting it back on the table. Cora tried not to look back as she left the area.

Meanwhile, in Song's Shimmer, a girl with medium-long and choppy black hair with golden brown eyes was wandering around Staccato Park, slightly confused. She was looking at the palm of her hand, and then down on herself. Shorts and a t-shirt adorned her body, and they almost felt like part of her. Then again, who was her.

"Hey," came the voice of a girl. She spun around and saw a short, but mature-looking girl with deeply tanned skin, dark brown to black eyes and dark brown hair, curled in the front. She was wearing clothes that almost made her look like Pocahontas, but they really did fit her. Behind her was a tall man with spiky, red hair, electrifying green eyes and a t-shirt and jeans. His hands were in his pockets and he was eyeing the girl warily. "I don't think I've ever seen you around here before," she began.

The girl shook her head.

Axel asked, after a second of silence, suspiciously, "What's your name?"

"I don't know."

**Author's Note: If you don't know who that girl with the black hair is, I'm very disappointed in you. xD I'm not too sure about what I'm going to do for the final sequel, but I am excited to get started. I've just got to get an idea together. Oh well, see you guys next story! Also, being the dork I am, I'm going to make a Pokemon story. I reallyneed to stop being such a loser. Anyway, please review! Speaking of reviews, thank you so much, my reviewers. The reviews are what keep me writing.**


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